Why in news?
- India is likely to seal a landmark civil nuclear pact with Vietnam this week during the visit of the President of Vietnam’s National Assembly.
- It is the first such partnership with a neighbour of China.
What are the provisons of the deal?
- During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Hanoi in early September the two sides also agreed to accelerate the negotiation process for a new Inter-Governmental Framework Agreement on Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy.
- India has been helping Vietnam’s civil nuclear sector since signing the first agreement in 1986, besides supplying a research reactor and training a few scientists under the International Atomic Energy Agency programme.
- The current agreement in the field of civil nuclear cooperation will entail
- Capacity building and training of Vietnamese nuclear scientists by India
- Assistance to improve safeguard measures of nuclear installations in the Southeast Asian country.
- Sri Lanka is the only other developing country with which India has signed a civil nuclear pact.
- Vietnam currently has bilateral civil nuclear pacts with Russia and Japan, a fact that will complement Indo-Vietnamese partnership. While Russia has wide-ranging presence in India’s civil nuclear sector, India and Japan concluded a civil nuclear pact last month.
What else will be addressed in the visit?
- The visit of President of Vietnam’s National Assembly, third highest ranking leader of Vietnam, will push comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
- The National Assembly President will be accompanied by a big business delegation to push economic and investment ties.
- The visit will also provide a fillip to parliamentary cooperation through exchanges between leaders of parliaments, committees, parliamentary friendship groups and parliamentarians of two countries.
