Indian ambassador in Cairo denies nuclear cooperation with Israel
Regional-India, Politics, 8/27/2001

The Indian ambassador in Cairo Sunday denied any nuclear cooperation between India and Israel.

Speaking to MENA , he said there is some kind of deliberate exaggeration to create misunderstanding to affect relations binding India with Arab countries.

He stressed that cooperation between India and Israel did not exceed buying military equipment from Israel. Israel is one of the sources of military equipment to India, he added.

The ambassador stressed that India would not help strengthen Israel's military powers and that its relations with Israel would not come at the expense of Arabs.

India cannot sacrifice its strong relations with 22 Arab countries for the sake of Israel, he added.

"We have waited 44 years before making any diplomatic relations with Israel. At the same time we are keen on developing our relations with Arab countries," the diplomat said.

We are trying to employ our diplomatic relations with Israel in the direction of easing the tense Israeli -Palestinian relations, he added.

"We will continue our financial assistance to the Palestinians till the two sides are brought back to the negotiating table.

Our relations with Israel are limited if they are compared to our relations with the Islamic and non Islamic countries," the ambassador said.

He added that there were contacts over the past few days between the Indian foreign minister and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

These contacts were meant to find a solution to the Middle East violence and resume peace negotiations, he added.

Previous Stories:
  Arab League protest developing nuclear cooperation with Israel   (7/15/2000)
  India denies nuclear cooperation with Israel, reiterates support for Arab issues   (8/27/1999)

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