File photo of Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal.
The Czech Republic is "trying its best" to clinch a nuclear power agreement with India even as the bilateral trade between the two nations is poised to hit USD 3 billion in the next two years, Czech Ambassador to India Milan Hovorka said on Tuesday.
Addressing a news conference at the PHD Chamber, Mr Hovorka announced that he will meet Power Minister Piyush Goyal today to discuss the possibilities of taking forward the nuclear power cooperation between India and the Czech Republic.
Mr Hovorka added that the Czech Republic is trying its best to pull off a nuclear power agreement with India and looking to boost cooperation in steel, pharma and technical sectors too.
"The issue of nuclear power cooperation between Indian and the Czech Republic is being debated and deliberated upon for over two years, but somehow it's not conclusive as yet.
"Since India has also been trying to build new capacities in the nuclear sector and Czech has abundant thorium at its possession, it's imperative that India and Czech begin to cooperate on this front. A new beginning to this effect will be made when I meet the Indian Power Minister on Wednesday," he said.
According to him, the existing trade volumes of USD 1.3 billion between India and the Czech Republic need to go up to at least USD 2 billion in the next 12 months before they attain the projected target of USD 3 billion by 2017.
"It is because of this reason that the Czechs would want India to expand its existing trade basket by seeking to collaborate with India in sectors like hydro, wind, bio and other sectors.
"The Czechs can also offer India its superior technologies to enable it to reduce the CO2 emissions from large and medium size companies to help protect its environment," said the Ambassador.