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April 15th, 2010
PM calls for N-tech for development
Advocating greater use of nuclear technology to help meet today's developmental challenges, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on April 13 announced India's plans to increase installed capacity for nuclear energy more than seven-fold by 2022.
"Our target is to increase our installed capacity more than seven-fold to 35,000 MWe by the year 2022, and to 60,000 MWe by 2032," he told world leaders from 47 nations gathered in Washington for the global Nuclear Security Summit hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama.
His address at the Nuclear Security Summit:
"Nuclear security is one of the foremost challenges we face today. I therefore wish to commend President Barack Obama for his initiative in convening this Summit on Nuclear Security. We would like the Summit to lead to concrete outcomes which help make our world a safer place.
The developmental applications of nuclear science in areas such as medicine, agriculture, food preservation and availability of fresh water are by now well established. Today, nuclear energy has emerged as a viable source of energy to meet the growing needs of the world in a manner that is environmentally sustainable. There is a real prospect for nuclear technology to address the developmental challenges of our times.
In India we have ambitious plans for using nuclear energy to meet our growing energy needs. Our target is to increase our installed capacity more than seven fold to 35000 MWe by the year 2022, and to 60,000 MWe by 2032.
The nuclear industry's safety record over the last few years has been encouraging. It has helped to restore public faith in nuclear power. Safety alone, however, is not enough. The challenge we face today is that of ensuring nuclear security.
The danger of nuclear explosives or fissile material and technical know-how falling in to the hands of non-state actors continues to haunt our world. India is deeply concerned about the danger it faces, as do other States, from this threat.
Since 2002, we have piloted a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly on measures to deny terrorists access to Weapons of MassDestruction. We fully support the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 and the United Nations Global Counter Terrorism Strategy.
The primary responsibility for ensuring nuclear security rests at the national level, but national responsibility must be accompanied by responsible behaviour by States. If not, it remains an empty slogan.
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BRIC can recast world order: Prime Minister Singh
The BRIC grouping of the world's top emerging economies, accounting for 20 percent of global GDP, have a key role in recasting the global architecture of governance and in setting the pace of global economic recovery, said Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.
"BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries are uniquely placed to contribute to reforming the architecture of global governance," Dr. Singh said at the plenary session of the BRIC summit, attended by Hu, Brazilian President Lula da Silva and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
His full speech at the summit:
"I wish to convey my deep gratitude to President Lula for hosting the BRIC Summit and for the warm hospitality extended to me and my delegation.
The holding of the second stand alone BRIC Summit represents the growing multi-polarity in the world.
In the short period of 10 months since our last Summit in Yekaterinburg we have made good progress. Our Foreign Ministers, Finance Ministers, Agriculture Ministers, National Security Advisers and Governors of Central Banks have met. The first BRIC Business Forum was held a few days ago, and several other side events have taken place.
We are four large countries with abundant resources, large populations and diverse societies. We together account for almost one-fifth of the world's GDP. We aspire
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