India to assist Vietnam in nuclear research

By Amit Baruah

HANOI, JAN. 8 India has offered to provide equipment for a nuclear science laboratory in Vietnam as part of a set of three agreements signed today, the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, said at a press conference here.

After talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, Mr. Phan Van Khai, and the President, Mr. Tran Duc Luong, Mr. Vajpayee confirmed that Indian troops had been receiving training in jungle warfare in Vietnam. ``This is an ongoing programme - imparting of military training. That has been going on since very long. And there is no other cooperation in the military field.''

India will supply laboratory equipment for the nuclear research institute in Dalat in southern Vietnam on a part-grant, part- purchase basis. As many as 30 Vietnamese scientists were trained at Indian facilities dealing with peaceful uses of nuclear energy, officials said. Vietnam is also interested in ``concepts'' relating to nuclear reactors for a future nuclear energy generation programme.

The three agreements signed in the presence of the two Prime Ministers are an MoU between India's Department of Atomic Energy and the Vietnamese Science Ministry; a protocol on cultural exchange and an agreement on tourism cooperation.

On the cooperation in the nuclear field, Mr. Vajpayee said, ``science and technology, including frontier sciences, are the backbone of a modernising society and India is pleased to assist Vietnam in this direction. I am glad cooperation in the area of peaceful uses of nuclear energy is progressing well.''

A statement on the MoU on nuclear energy said its basis lay in an agreement signed in 1986, valid till May, 2002. ``This MoU reviews visits of a number of Vietnamese scientists to facilities in India in the field of peaceful utilisation of nuclear energy. Indian scientists would continue to cooperate with the Vietnamese Atomic Energy Commission on the technical and functional aspects of the Dalat Nuclear Research Institute.''

Mr. Vajpayee stressed the prospects for cooperation and recalled the identification of India's liberation movement with the anti- colonial struggle of Vietnam.

In his banquet speech, the Prime Minister said he came from a ``political generation in India, which closely identified with Vietnam's struggle. What energised India's liberation movement, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, and Vietnam's epic battle for independence and re- unification under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, was the same universal ideal - namely, freedom from alien rule and exploitation.''

At the press conference, Mr. Vajpayee said he had ``very good discussions'' with Vietnamese leaders and looked forward to cooperating with Vietnam in the context of the Association of South East Asian Nations.

``ASEAN has always been very close to us in terms of history, geography and cultural association. The Ganga-Mekong Cooperation Programme, India's dialogue partnership with ASEAN and our ARF partnership all underline our linkages. We would like to see these linkages flourish in the future in the interest of our collective security and prosperity,'' he said.

``I take this opportunity to once again express the appreciation and gratitude of the people of India to our friends in Vietnam, for their support of India's candidature for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council and on various issues that command the attention of the international community. We look forward to both our countries continuing to work together in international bodies, especially on ASEAN fora.''

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