Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said India needs to seek international backing for its nuclear agreement with the U.S. to acquire atomic reactors and material needed to sustain record economic growth.
“The sustainability of our long-term economic growth is critically dependent on our ability to meet our energy requirements of the future,'' Singh said in an e-mailed statement of a speech delivered today in Tarapur, near Mumbai. “India is now too important a country to remain outside the international mainstream in this critical area.''
India needs to secure approval from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the global nuclear-power watchdog, on safeguards for reprocessing spent fuel. Clearance by the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group will clear the way for the accord, a key element of U.S. President George W. Bush's foreign policy, to be approved by the U.S. Congress.
Singh is pushing ahead with the agreement so India can acquire reactors from Areva SA, the world's largest maker of nuclear power stations, and General Electric Co. to plug an energy shortfall. Singh's ruling coalition yesterday said it will set up a panel to examine the implications of the U.S. to pacify the communists and stave off a threat to his government.
Singh's Congress Party-led coalition government relies on communist support to retain its majority in parliament.
Economic Growth
India's economic growth unexpectedly quickened last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, the Central Statistical Organisation said in New Delhi today. South Asia's largest economy expanded 9.3 percent in the three months to June 30 from a year earlier, compared with a gain of 1.8 percent in the U.S., 2.5 percent in countries sharing the euro and 2.3 percent in Japan. China's economy grew 11.9 percent.
“When a country of the size of India begins to grow at the rate of 9 percent per annum, with the prospect of even higher rates of growth, energy becomes a critical issue,'' Singh said, a day after his coalition and communists came together to hammer out a probable compromise on the bilateral accord that has driven a wedge between the allies.
Singh plans to build 40,000 megawatts of nuclear capacity by 2020, equivalent to a third of current generation. India needs to add to the 3 percent of electricity that comes from Russian-designed reactors to meet soaring energy needs and reduce its reliance on coal-fired power plants.
Bitter Rivals
The communist parties and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, usually bitter rivals, both want a review of the accord, which seeks to end three decades of India's nuclear isolation and give power plants in the energy-starved country access to U.S. technology and equipment.
The agreement legitimizes India's status as a nuclear power, while opening up the market for suppliers of fissile material, technology and equipment. Areva and General Electric are among four companies poised to share $14 billion of orders from India as nations led by the U.S. prepare to lift a 33-year ban.
Toshiba Corp.'s Westinghouse Electric Co. and Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom may also vie for contracts to build two 1,000-megawatt reactors, Nuclear Power Corp. of India Chairman S.K. Jain has said.
