India, Mongolia to operationalise civil nuclear pact

India's efforts to diversify its supplies of uranium took another step forward as it and Mongolia decided to operationalise their joint pact on civil nuclear cooperation. In this regard both countries said Wednesday that India would not only assist in capacity creation for Ulan Bator's nuclear sector but also consider the manner in which India would begin mining uranium in Mongolia.

Mongolian Parliament

These next steps in nuclear cooperation and bilateral engagement were agreed upon at the second meeting of the India-Mongolia Joint Committee on Cooperation, which was jointly chaired by Indian minister of state for external affairs, Preneet Kaur, and Mongolian minister of education and science, Yondongiin Otgonbayar.

Mongolia has now invited Indian participation in uranium mining, including through joint ventures and investment.

Mongolia has also welcomed Indian participation in the mining of coal, coking coal and other minerals.

In turn, India has offered a short course on radiography for Mongolian personnel at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai and assistance in setting up a regulatory and radiation protection framework in Mongolia.

Both nations had signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of peaceful use of radioactive minerals and nuclear energy in the course of a state visit by  Mongolia's president to Delhi in September last year.