2009-11-07 18:12:01 - India and the European Union have signed an agreement in the civil nuclear field to give boost to collaborative research and agreed over the free trade treaty by next year to boost trade and investment.

India and the 27-nation European Union (EU) have signed an agreement for cooperation in the field of Fusion Energy Research and agreed over the free trade treaty by next year to boost trade and investment. Dr Singh also expressed hope that negotiations on broad based trade and investment agreement with EU will be concluded in a year.

Fusion agreement was signed

in New Delhi on Friday by the Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Dr.Anil Kakodkar from the Indian side and European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner from the EU side. Energy pact was signed after the India-EU Summit talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Swedish counterpart Fredrik Reinfeldt along with European Commission President Jose Manuel Borosso. Hybridisation of the agreement, an "important outcome of the 10th Summit, Dr.Singh said at a joint press conference later that it underscores the growing importance of energy security and clean energy in our cooperation. Official media reports that the agreement aims at intensifying cooperation to develop scientific understanding and technological capability underlying the fusion system in the long term. Dr. Manmohan Singh said that the two sides agreed to work closely on issues including global financial crises, climate change, nuclear disarmament and reform of internationalinstitutions.

European Union President said that he handed over a document to the Prime Minister spelling out the mandate of the European Union in the forthcoming climate change summit in Copenhagen. He said the document is inline with the UN process. He cautioned unless developing and developed nations join hands in dealing with this crisis, it will be difficult to address the problem the temperature in the atmosphere has already gone up by 0.4 degrees Celsius.

Speaking on the occasion, the EU Comission Chairman, Mr. Borrosso urged to tackle the challenge of climate change more intensely. The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh gave the details of the steps taken by the government to address the impact of climate change which remained the focus of discussions. He informed the summit level meeting of the 8 point national action plan and other measures including tapping of the non conventional sources of energy.