India, Brazil and South Africa agree

19 October 2007

India, Brazil and South Africa have agreed to work together to explore cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the context of ensuring the supply of safe, sustainable and non-polluting energy sources to meet rising demand, especially in developing countries. In a wide-ranging seven-page declaration at the end of the second India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) summit in Pretoria, the leaders of the three countries - President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, and his Indian and Brazilian counterparts, Manmohan Singh and Luiz Lula da Silva - said nations should be allowed to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Multilateral decisions related to the nuclear fuel cycle should not undermine the "inalienable right" of states to take up nuclear energy in conformity with international obligations, the declaration said. IBSA is a trilateral developmental initiative established by the three countries in 2003 to promote cooperation and exchange in the southern hemisphere.

Further information

IBSA