Moscow, May 10
India has said there is “steady progress” on Indo-Russia civil nuclear energy cooperation and the second unit of the Kudankulam project is “progressing satisfactorily” towards commissioning as the two countries aim to boost their strategic ties in spheres of space and energy.
President Pranab Mukherjee, in Russia on a five-day visit, yesterday held a 45-minute meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a “wide-ranging review of our bilateral cooperation”, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement today.
“On civil nuclear energy cooperation, there has been steady progress. The Kudankulam Nuclear Project-2 (KKNP2) is progressing satisfactorily towards commissioning. Contracts for supply of equipment for KKNP3 and 4 have been concluded,” the statement quoted Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar as saying in a media briefing yesterday.
“We had also in December constituted three Joint Working Groups to discuss different aspects of nuclear cooperation to take the level of cooperation to a higher plane. One of the three Joint Working Groups has already met; two others are likely to meet very soon,” he said.
Jaishankar said a number of steps were being taken to boost space cooperation. “On space cooperation, the Heads of our two Space agencies have drawn up a concrete plan for reinvigoration of our space cooperation, including marking in a suitable manner the 40th anniversary of the launch of Aryabhatta from the then Soviet Union. — PTI