NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee heads to Namibia June 15-17 and he will be the first Indian President to visit the nation in as long as 21 years.
On the face of it, the President's trip seems like a routine head of state visit - he is also going to Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire June 12-14 - but when seen in conjunction with three other facts, the trip doesn't look that routine.
Routine state visit?
Fact one: This week, PM Narendra Modi got the backing of Switzerland and Mexico for its membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the elite nukes club of 48 countries. In addition, on a trip to the US, also earlier this week, PM Modi got renewed public support from the US for India's NSG membership.
Fact two: India's bid for NSG membership is expected to be discussed in a meeting session of the NSG scheduled for June 20-24 in Seoul.
Fact three: Namibia is the fourth-largest producer of uranium and it agreed to sell the nuclear fuel to India in 2009. However, that hasn't happened, as Namibia has since cited a 2009 African version of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Pelindaba Treaty, which essentially controls the supply of uranium from Africa to the rest of the world.
Uranium, more uranium needed
India has some access to uranium since its 2008 agreement on nuclear safeguards with the International Atomic Energy Agency. That paved the way for a civil nuclear agreement with the US, which in turn led to France, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Canada agreeing to export uranium to India.
Still, India needs a lot more uranium to be able to ramp up the building of nuclear power plants and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. India's goal is to have 40 percent of its energy from clean and renewable sources.
No uranium from US
The US has not provided uranium to India for the last several decades - likely since 1969 - despite the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Lok Sabha was told in March by Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office that looks after the Department of Atomic Energy.
The last time the US fuelled reactors was in the initial days of the operation of two units of Tarapur Atomic Power Stations (TAPS) in Maharashtra, TOI has reported. TAPS units 1 and 2 started operations as long ago as 1969. The US stopped providing uranium to India after it undertook its first nuclear test in 1974.
Enter Namibia
India's been frustrated, because despite an agreement with it, Namibia has been unwilling to export uranium to India, for the non-proliferation reason mentioned above. In fact, that's why Namibia's parliament has yet to ratify India's agreement with the country.
Diplomats have said President Mukherjee is on a mission to persuade Namibia to ratify the 2009 agreement.
"Namibia is the fourth largest producer of uranium but they have an African Union agreement which impedes its implementation. Namibia has not been able to break that unity or the binding commitment (of the as Pelindaba treaty)," Amar Sinha, Energy Secretary, told reporters on Saturday, a day before the President is scheduled to leave for his three-nation tour to Africa.
Sinha said the President will try to impress upon Namibia that India will continue to sign agreements with other countries for the supply of uranium. "... eventually if we meet our requirement from non-Namibian sources it would be loss to Namibian industry," PTI reports Sinha say saying.
Win for Namibia and India
Namibia, Niger, Malawi and South Africa are the main uranium producing countries on the African continent. Revenue derived from the uranium mining operations of multinational corporations here -despite the high price of uranium - is minimal, uncertain and volatile.
The financial agreements that these countries make with the uranium producers regarding their share in the profits are the primary reason for this state of affairs. That was the conclusion of a 2011 report - called Radioactive Revenues - from WISE and the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations.
The Energy Secretary also said that Namibia gets no revenue from uranium. It would be a win-win situation for both counties if Namibia relents, Sinha added.
Come June 24, India will likely get a reply on its bid for NSG membership after the meeting session of NSG members in Seoul. Even if India fails to get membership, Namibia, officials hope, can be convinced to relent, especially now that Mexico and Switzerland have also backed India.
All eyes are now on Windhoek, Namibia.
