France ready for full civil nuclear cooperation: Manmohan

September 26th, 2009 NEW YORK - The United States has reassured India that it would move forward with their landmark civil nuclear deal notwithstanding New Delhi's position that it would not sign the discriminatory Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conveyed this to External Affairs Minister S.M.

September 25th, 2009 PITTSBURGH - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the UN Security Council resolution asking all countries to join the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) is not targeted at India and the US has assured of its full commitment to their civil nuclear deal. "We have been assured that this is not a resolution directed at India and that the US commitment to carry out its obligations under the civil nuclear agreements that we have signed with United States remains undiluted, that we have been assured officially by the United States government," he told reporters after the G-20 summit here.

September 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Monday signed a civil nuclear pact with Mongolia and announced a soft loan of $25 million to bolster the economy of the resource-rich Central Asian country that has been hit by global recession. With this pact, Mongolia, a former satellite state of the Soviet Union, became the sixth country after the US, France, Russia and Kazakhstan and Namibia to sign a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India.

July 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India will not be affected by the G8 stand on nuclear commerce as there is no consensus among the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to prohibit the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technology to non-signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told parliament Wednesday. Prohibition by the NSG of such transfers would require a consensus amongst all the 45 countries.

July 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - External Affairs Minister S M Krishna informed the Lok Sabha that there was no delay in the negotiations with the US on the reprocessing agreement as part of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal and officials of two countries have held talks in Vienna last week. "There has been no delay in the negotiations and nor will the arrangements and procedures to be finalised have any relation to India's agreements in the field of civil nuclear cooperation with other countries," Krishna said.

July 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India and the United States Monday reaffirmed their commitment to the bilateral civil nuclear deal, with India providing two sites for nuclear parks to be set up by American companies. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also invited to visit the US in November.

July 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday afternoon, with the Mumbai attacks and their aftermath, the situation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan ('AfPak') region and India's role in it on the agenda. Manmohan Singh is expected to tell Clinton about his talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt and New Delhi's position on dialogue with Islamabad, official sources said.

July 14th, 2009 PARIS - The decision of the G8 countries to put a ban on helping non-NPT countries to reprocess uranium would have no effect on India, officials accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his four-day trip to France and Egypt said. "We are receiving no help from anybody," official sources said.

July 14th, 2009 PARIS/NEW DELHI - The G8 declaration on inhibiting the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies (ENR) to those countries who have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) would have no effect on India, Indian officials said here ahead of the meeting between Prime Minsiter Manmohan Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday. "We are receiving no help from anybody," official sources said.

July 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh goes to Paris Monday, France is moving ahead rapidly to implement its bilateral civil nuclear pact with India. French company Areva is close to finalising a contract for two nuclear reactors to be set up in Maharashtra.

May 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said the Congress party was ready to take the support of the Left to form the next government, but not at the cost of giving up the nuclear deal with the US. 'I have enjoyed working with the Left.

April 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In a candid admission, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday that the 'toughest decision' of his tenure was the inking of the India-US civil nuclear deal and that he was ready to resign if it did not go through. 'I was quite clear that if the nuclear deal had not gone through, I would have resigned.

January 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Reaffirming support for India in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has sent Republic Day greetings to President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and expressed his desire to take bilateral ties to a new level. Sarkozy also invited Manmohan Singh, who is recovering from a heart bypass surgery, to visit Paris before the G20 summit in London so that the two countries can hone common approaches on issues like global financial crisis that will be at the heart of multilateral negotiations this year.

January 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - India and Kazakhstan Saturday signed five agreements, including one on civil nuclear energy. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who arrived Friday night on a four-day visit ahead of the Republic Day parade Monday where he will be the chief guest, signed the agreements with the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of President Pratibha Patil.

January 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Central Asian republic Kazakhstan Saturday became the fourth nation after the US, France and Russia to sign a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who is on a four-day visit to the country ahead of India's Republic Day parade where he is the chief guest, was present at the delegation-level talks between the two countries here, along with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and President Pratibha Patil.