India and Russia on Thursday signed two agreements which will set the groundwork for starting units 3 and 4 of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project.
At the summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, a supplement to the General Framework Agreement for units 3 and 4 was signed which will operationalise the GFA and Technical Commercial Offer signed in April. Besides, a contract for the implementation of units 3 and 4 of the plant with ATOMSTROYEXPORT supplying some major equipment was also signed.
Setting the bilateral trade turnover in goods and services at $30 billion by 2025, the two countries also signed a number of other agreements including Essar Group’s MoU with VTB for finance arrangement of $1 billion to Essar.
The deal is intended to finance the continued consolidation of certain assets in Essar Group’s investment portfolio and strengthening its capital structure. This financing follows the successful $1.2-billion transaction arranged earlier by VTB Capital, which acted as Financial Adviser and Financier for the company in taking its key assets private. These were listed on the London Stock Exchange, the company said in a statement.
The two countries entered into an agreement for enhancement of cooperation in oil and gas in 2015-16 which includes joint exploration and production of hydrocarbons, long-term LNG supplies and joint study of a hydrocarbon pipeline systems connecting Russia with India.
An agreement for training of Indian Armed Forces personnel in the military establishments of the Defence Ministry of the Russian Federation was also initialled.
Nuclear cooperation A strategic vision for strengthening cooperation on uses of atomic energy between the two countries which envisages a roadmap of bilateral cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector for the next two decades was also signed.
As part of strategic this vision, the two nations recognised that the agenda for bilateral cooperation in the nuclear power sector is globally one of the largest between any two countries.
A statement says that the two countries look forward to the construction of additional Russian-designed nuclear power units in India, cooperation in research and development of innovative nuclear power plants and localisation of manufacturing of equipment and fuel assemblies in India.
The two countries will also explore opportunities for sourcing materials, equipment and services from Indian industry for the construction of Russian-designed nuclear power plants in third countries.