IBSA Foreign Ministers stress civil nuclear coop

New Delhi, July 17: With Indo-US talks on the 123 Agreement still on, India, Brazil and South Africa today agreed that global civilian nuclear cooperation could be enhanced through forward-looking approaches consistent with national and international obligations.

Brazil and South Africa, who are key members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), expressed solidarity with India for exploring approaches to cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy under appropriate safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The three countries also called for elimination of nuclear weapons for prevention of acts of nuclear terrorism and check the misuse of such weapons by terrorists.

Foreign Ministers of the three countries -- External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Celso Amorim of Brazil and Dr (Mrs) Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of South Africa -- held discussions here today on promotion of South-South dialogue and strengthening all-round cooperation between the three countries.

They announced their decision to increase trade between the three countries to 15 billion US Dollars by 2007.

The three Foreign Ministers who met for the Fourth Meeting of the Trilateral Commission of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum, called for enhancing socio-economic cooperation between the three countries in various sectors by implementing the decisions taken earlier.

It was also a prelude to the Second IBSA Summit of Heads of State/Government to be held in South Africa in October.

Reiterating commitment to jointly pursuing ''on an urgent basis'' UN reforms and expansion of the UN Security Council, the Foreign Ministers expressed determination to achieve concrete results by the end of the 61st UN General Assembly.

The Ministers reiterated the importance of ensuring that any multi-lateral decisions about nuclear fuel cycle did not undermine the inalienable right of States to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in conformity with their international obligations. They emphasised the need to ensure supply of safe, sustainable and non-polluting sources of energy to meet the rising global demand, particularly in developing countries.

Urging the WTO members to reaffirm commitment to conclude negotiations of the Doha Development Agenda, the Ministers called for eliminating trade distortions and addressing the interests of low-income farmers, and urged developed countries to leverage their aid to developing countries for infrastructure development.

To expand the scope and strength of South-South Cooperation, the Ministers resolved to enhance their policy coordination and high-level dialogue.

On major international issues including the Middle East Peace Process (MEPP), Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Sudan, the Ministers called for peace in the region and stressed the need to make structures of global governance more democratic, representative and legitimate.

The three Foreeign Ministers also held discussions on strengthening cooperation in areas including Defence, climate change, intellectual property rights, bio-diversity, sustainable development, human rights, peace and security, disarmament and non-proliferation, disaster management, revenue administration, education, agriculture, trade and investment, energy, transport, culture, health, science and technology, social issues, public administration and tourism.

UNI