Japan, India to Sign Nuclear Cooperation Pact in Mid-Nov.

Tokyo, Oct. 31 (Jiji Press)--Japan and India are considering signing a bilateral nuclear cooperation pact during a planned visit to Japan by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in mid-November, informed sources said Monday. The treaty will allow Japan to export nuclear power plants to India, giving a boost to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to promote infrastructure exports as a way of fueling economic growth. This will be the first time for Japan to conclude a nuclear cooperation pact with a nonsignatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The move may draw criticism from the atomic-bombed western Japan cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for hindering nuclear nonproliferation efforts. Abe and Modi reached a basic agreement on concluding the pact when they met in New Delhi in December last year. At the time, Abe told Modi that Japan will suspend cooperation under the pact if India conducts another nuclear test. Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama visited India on Friday to put the finishing touches to the treaty. Japan and India started negotiations on the pact in 2010, but the talks were suspended following the triple reactor meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s <9501> Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, damaged in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The two countries resumed the negotiations in 2013 after Abe took power in December 2012. The focus of the talks was on ways to prevent India from carrying out nuclear tests and utilizing Japanese nuclear technologies for military purposes. END