INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS MARCH 2010

INDIA & THE WORLD BILATERAL AFFAIRS MARCH 2010

• India and the United States have agreed to the arrangement and procedures which will allow India to retrieve recyclable material found in spent fuel from U.S.-origin nuclear plants for further generating electricity. India also retains the right to make additions and modifications. This is only the third pact signed by the U.S., the earlier ones being with Japan and Euratom, a European consortium.
  
• A frame work for cooperation on trade and investment was signed by Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma and U.S. Trade Representative Ronald Kirk. This agreement aims for the development of small and medium enterprises and also helps with the deployment of clean energy and environmental technologies.
  
• India and Russia went upon an agreement for the construction ofRussian reactors in India - two reactors (that is unit 5 and 6) at Kudankulam in Tamilnadu and two reactors at Haripur in West Bengal to be constructed during the 12th plan period (2012 to 2017).
  
• India and Russia signed the following agreements during the visit of Russian Prime Minister to India.
  1. Commercial level agreements were signed between Gazprom and ONGC; NPCIL and Atomstroy export; and Alrosa and Diamonds India Limited.
  2. The Inter - Governmental Agreement on Cooperation in Atomic Energy
  3. Supplementary agreements on the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov to finalise cost and technical issues.
  4. A deal in the military aviation sphere that includes the purchase of more naval version MiG - 29 Fighters.
  5. An MoU for bilateral cooperation in Russia's satellite navigation system.
  
  
• The Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, New Delhi was inaugurated in Dhaka, Bangladesh by ICCR president Karan Singh.
  
• India and Sri Lanka signed a Line of Credit agreement for $ 67.4 million to fund the second phase of up gradation of the Southern Railway Line from Colombo to Matara.
  
• India plans to set up consul - General's office in Jaffna, Srilanka. India has only one consulate in Kandy.
  
• An agreement between India and the European Union (EU) to 'intensity' the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with the aim to conclude the FTA by October ahead of the India - EU summit has reached, by the visiting newly appointed European Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht and Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma during their bilateral meeting in New Delhi.
  
• The following agreements have been come to shape during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Saudi Arabia.
  1. The India-Gulf Co-operation Council Free Trade Agreement is set to finalise, which will boost India's trade with GCC members.
  2. Two agreements by Tatas and public sector RITES were signed.
  3. Both sides trade had touched $ 26 billion and was further set to rise. Aramco, the Saudi petro chemical giant has accessed goods and services worth $ 400 million from India.
  4. Both the countries already had a double taxation avoidance agreement and bilateral investment protection agreement.
  
  
• The highlight of the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Saudi Arabia was the signing of the Riyadh Declaration with King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, this came four years after the 2006 Delhi Declaration. India and Saudi Arabia signed an Extradition Treaty and Agreements in the field of research, education, science and technology, information technology and services and peaceful uses of outer space.