PM discusses energy cooperation with Iran, Venezuela

On Board Air India One, Sep 18 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said he had discussed ways of enhancing India's cooperation with Iran and Venezuela in the energy sector during his meetings with the leaders of the two countries on the sidelines of the 14th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Havana on Saturday.

Talking to journalists who travelled with him to Brazil and Cuba, Dr Singh said he had also reviewed India's relations with Iran and Venezuela at the meetings.

Apart from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Dr Singh had also met Cuba's ailing leader Fidel Castro, the country's acting President Raul Castro, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Saturday.

Others he met included Mongolian President Nambar Enkhbayar, Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam and Nepalese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister K P Sharma Oli.

The highlight of the visit, of course, was Dr Singh's meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday morning.

''I had a very good discussion with the Venezuelan President on how to promote cooperation in the field of energy. Those prospects, if realised, can add to our energy security,'' he said.

The Prime Minister acknowledged there had been some misunderstanding with Iran over India's vote at the International Atomic Energy Agency in the debate over Iran's nuclear programme.

''But I reiterated that that's a thingof the past. And I reiterated to Mr Ahmadinejad that we recognise that Iran, as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, must have all the rights for peaceful uses of nuclear energy and all the obligations.

And if there are any doubts in the minds of the international community, those doubts should be resolved through constructive dialogue, discussion rather than through exercise of any degree of coercion,'' he said.

Mr Ahmadinejad agreed that the two countries must work together to strengthen their relationship in every possible way.

The two leaders also discussed the proposed Iran-India-Pakistan gas pipeline.

''Experts are looking at the feasibility of this pipeline and once that report is ready, we will relook at what can be done,'' Dr Singh said.

Mr Chavez referred to the South Commission's report brought out when Dr Singh was its Secretary General.

''He said he was in jail and had read it from cover to cover,'' Dr Singh said.

Mr Chavez said it was time to update that report.

''That report was written in 1990. Times have changed and therefore there are opportunities to relook at the options. And we as countries of the South and members of NAM do believe that the movement needs a revision and a new sense of direction,'' the Prime Minister said.

Dr Singh also felt NAM needed to be revitalised.

''The world is yearning for a new roadmap to deal with its problems. There is a sense of insecurity in the world, there is a sense the world is drifting apart. If these tendencies are not corrected and reversed, they threaten to destroy our civilisation,'' he said.

He said it was the right time for men and women of goodwill to sit together to find new pathways towards peace and harmony.

''And I do believe India has a role to play,'' he added.

UNI SA PDS VP0805