N-deal: Government hasn't thrown the towel in

After speaking to United States President George W Bush on the India-United States civil nuclear deal, it seems the government hasn't actually thrown in the towel even as it made clear it is not very enthusiastic about going ahead with the deal.

Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, who is traveling with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the India-Brazil and South Africa summit at Johannesburg, said India must be part of a global nuclear system. "Isolation will hit our national interest," he said.

Sharma, however, refused to comment on Dr Singh's conversation with President Bush.

When asked about the Left-government tiff, he said, "India always maintained a broad perspective about nuclear energy and that the issue hasn't exactly precipitated by a few incidents that happened over a few weeks."

While briefing the media on board, Sharma said the prime minister's trip to Nigeria has been one of the most successful ones and the government's aim is to focus on the energy security issues.

India's focus, he said, will be on core areas of energy, agriculture, food, security, health and medicines and defence.

India, he said, is already sourcing 10 per cent of its oil from Nigeria and now Indian Oil Corporation has proposed to import 60,000 barrels per day. India also plans to set up a major refinery in Nigeria under the aegis of Indian oil major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

Following his interactions with the Nigerian President, Singh plans to set up a special group to help Nigeria's planning process and tax structure. This working group will be set up shortly and the group's first meeting will be held in 2008.

During his interactions, prime minister invited the Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to visit India and the President has accepted the offer. India is likely to play host to Yar'Adua in 2008.

As for the second IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) summit to be held in Pretoria on Wednesday, Sharma said, "IBSA is a great initiative that brings together three powerful countries of three continents -- Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Areas of priority as mentioned in the first IBSA summit held in Brasilia in September last year were health, education, energy, social development, resettlement, science and technology.

"At that time, we identified for the participating nations to work on specified areas -- Brasilia was to focus on bio-fuel or ethanol, South Africa to focus on gasification of coal and India to concentrate on renewables in wind and solar energy," Sharma said.

The second IBSA summit, informed Sharma, "will work towards improving air connectivity between the participating countries, strengthening maritime cooperation and on upgrading shipping links."