Uncertainty clouds India-Japan nuclear deal

Tthe Japanese government may have decided to suspend negotiations with India and four other countries on civil nuclear cooperation in the wake of prime minister Naoto Kan's call for pulling the plug on atomic power.

Kyodo news agency, citing an unnamed government source reported that any move to go ahead with the talks could risk contradicting the prime minister's policy.

According to the report, the government would suspend talks with India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates for sale of Japanese-made nuclear power equipment and technology. The decision concerned negotiations over completion of separate nuclear power cooperation agreements with these countries.

Negotiations with all five countries had been put on hold after the killer earthquake and tsunami in March triggered the nuclear crisis in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture.

According to the source, the government would not schedule any high-level talks with the five prospective nations on completion of nuclear cooperation accords without getting the prime ministers' appoval, the report said.

Meanwhile, the concerned ministries including the industry ministry and the foreign ministry would have to wait and see when Kan resigned.