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V S Chandrasekar in Moscow
India and Russia on Tuesday agreed to work jointly with other states on the creation of the Global Control System for non-proliferation of missiles and missile technology on an equal and non-discriminatory basis, under the United Nations auspices.
The two countries also expressed support for preserving existing arms control and disarmament agreements, including the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a joint statement on "strategic issues" released after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
As strategic partners, the two countries expressed their commitment to cooperate bilaterally and at the multi-lateral level on strategic issues for the development of a multi-polar world based on a new cooperative security order.
Russia welcomed India's voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing and positively evaluated the Indian government's efforts to develop a broad national consensus on the issue of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the statement said.
India welcomed the readiness of Russia and the United States to further reduce strategic offensive weapons.
The two countries called upon other nuclear weapon states to join the process of nuclear reductions at an appropriate stage.
They reaffirmed their support to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's proposal for an international conference to address and effectively eliminate nuclear dangers and to convene the fourth special session of the General Assembly on disarmament.
As parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, both sides stressed their commitment to ensuring that the provisions of the convention were fully and effectively implemented and called upon other states to do so.
Both sides reiterated the importance of the Conference on Disarmament as the single multi-lateral disarmament-negotiating forum.
They stressed that the body should respond to the global disarmament agenda through multi-laterally negotiated, internationally and effectively verifiable agreements.
Both the countries felt the need for an early commencement of negotiations at the Conference for banning the future production of weapon grade fissile material for nuclear weapons and other nuclear explosive devices.
They called upon the international community to make efforts for concluding appropriate, legally binding instruments to ensure non-weaponisation of the outer space, while at the same time preserving the use of space for full range of cooperative, peaceful and developmental activities.
They said a comprehensive agreement in this regard should include banning deployment of weapons in outer space, non-use of force or threat of the use of force against space objects.
The two nations also agreed to hold consultations on strategic issues on a regular basis.
PTI
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