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India's Atomic Energy Market Worth $150 Billion
BBC NEWS
August 21, 2010: the Indian and Japanese foreign ministers have held talks on a civil nuclear co-operation agreement. Japanese Minister Katsuya Okada has said that the decision to start negotiations has been one of the toughest he has ever had to make. Speaking at a news conference in Delhi, he has said that if India conducts nuclear tests Japan will suspend cooperation. Japan has been hesitant to sign a deal because India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
His visit has come a day after India's cabinet has approved a delayed draft law that will pave the way for foreign companies to build reactors in India, where the atomic energy market is reported to be worth $150 billion.
Mr Okada has been holding talks with his counterpart, S M Krishna, during the two-day state visit, an Indian foreign ministry statement has said. A second round of talks on a civil nuclear pact between the two countries have expected to hold next month.
India carried out its first atomic test in 1974, and refused to sign non-proliferation agreements. However, it began to emerge from nuclear isolation in 2008 when it signed a civil nuclear co-operation agreement with the United States.
Japan is the sixth-largest foreign investor in India, and trade between the countries worth more than $12 billion last year according to India's foreign ministry.
