PM Manmohan Singh, Vladimir Putin ask officials to resolve Kudankulam N-plant issues

MOSCOW: Committing to push cooperation in the nuclear field, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin today directed officials to resolve at the earliest outstanding issues on liability that have stalled work on Unit-III and IV of the Kudankulam project.

Singh and Putin, who held wide-ranging talks, observed that defence cooperation is a crucial element in the strategic partnership and decided to enhance cooperation in the fields of rocket, missile, naval technologies and weapon systems.

The two leaders, at their 14th annual Summit meeting, also discussed cooperation in the field of terrorism and looked at ways to enhance trade and investment among other subjects.

Singh later said the discussions were characterised by the warmth, goodwill and trust that permeate all aspects of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership.

"I conveyed to President Putin our commitment to fully implement the road map on civil nuclear cooperation that was signed during his visit to India in 2010," he said.

Singh described Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu as an important symbol of the strategic partnership and said he looked forward to commercial power production from Unit-I very shortly, and the completion of work on Unit-II next year.

"We have directed our officials to resolve all outstanding issues at the earliest," the Prime Minister said.

He did not specify the outstanding issues but was clearly referring to the liability matters. Russia's concerns over the operator responsibility in the Liability Act of India have stalled work on Unit-III and IV of the Kudankulam project.

The sides also agreed to expeditiously finalise the General Framework Agreement and the Techno-Commercial Offer for Units -- 3 & 4 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.