India, Japan hold 2nd round of talks on civilian nuclear pact+

NEW DELHI, Oct. 8 Kyodo - India and Japan on Friday held the second round of official-level talks aimed at signing a bilateral civilian nuclear energy treaty, the Press Trust of India
said.
The two-day dialogue assumes importance as it is being held days ahead of
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Japan.
The Indian side is led by Gautum Bambawale, joint secretary for East Asia at
the Indian External Affairs Ministry, and Mitsuru Kitano, deputy director
general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau,
the report said.
PTI quoted government sources as saying there was no timeline on signing the
nuclear agreement.
The two sides also discussed the contours of the nuclear agreement
negotiations, which kicked off on June 28 in Tokyo.
If signed, the India-Japan Civilian Nuclear Energy Agreement would provide
opportunities for Japanese firms to set up advanced civil nuclear energy
technology projects in India's $150 billion nuclear energy market.
India has already inked similar agreements with the United States, France and
Russia, which are trying to boost their nuclear power industries.
American and French companies in particular want to use Japanese-made equipment
in nuclear power plants they aim to build in India. They and Japanese firms
therefore have been calling on Tokyo to facilitate their business in the
emerging country.
In Japan, however, the planned accord faces significant public criticism since
India has developed nuclear arms without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty, so the Japanese government is expected to call on India to work on
nuclear disarmament in earnest.
==Kyodo