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R 290940Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY BRASILIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0265
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0109
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
INFO RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO 1031
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 5300
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 7253
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0348
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0621

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRASILIA 002047 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/RA, ISN/NESS - R.STRATFORD, ISN/RA 
ENERGY DEPT FOR M CLAPPER - DOE/NE) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG TRGY KNNP IAEA IN BR
SUBJECT:  BRAZIL PLANS TO RENEW NUCLEAR COOPERATION WITH INDIA 
 
REF: PRETORIA 3772 
 
¶1.  (U) THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED AND NOT FOR 
INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  At a meeting with EmbOffs on October 19, the 
Ministry of External Relations' (MRE) Director of the Division of 
Disarmament and Sensitive Technologies, Minister Santiago Mourao, 
said the USG opening with India on nuclear energy has revived 
Brazil's and India's interest in nuclear energy cooperation.  Mourao 
clarified that Brazil did not enter into an agreement with India and 
South Africa per se as was reported in local press, but instead 
issued a joint declaration, which covered a wide range of topics 
such as UN Security Council reform and the Doha Round.  He noted 
that Brazil was particularly interested in India's use of thorium in 
its nuclear reactors.  India and Brazil are numbers one and three in 
the world in terms of thorium reserves, he added.  A collateral 
benefit to the United States, Mourao pointed out, is that now Brazil 
has more reasons to support the U.S. proposal to the Nuclear 
Suppliers Group (NSG) concerning opening up to India.  For its part, 
a uranium-poor India would benefit from gaining access to Brazil's 
extensive supply of uranium.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) On October 17, Brazilian President Lula, Indian Prime 
Minister Singh, and South African President Mbeki met in Tshwane, 
South Africa, at the second summit of the India-Brazil-South Africa 
(IBSA) Dialogue Forum (REFTEL),  They released a joint declaration 
that said, among many other things, "they agreed to explore 
approaches to cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy 
under appropriate International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) 
safeguards."  Key excerpts of this joint declaration are provided in 
paragraph 10 below.  On October 19, ESTH Officer and Pol Off met 
with MRE's Director of the Division of Disarmament and Sensitive 
Technologies, Min. Santiago Mourao, to discuss the joint 
declaration. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Press reports on October 18 had described the IBSA joint 
declaration as an "agreement" on nuclear cooperation between the 
Government of Brazil (GOB) and India and South Africa.  Mourao 
clarified that it was not an agreement, but part of a joint 
declaration, which covered a wide range of topics such as UN 
Security Council reform and the Doha Round.  Nonetheless, Mourao 
underscored that the portions of the declaration (see below) 
dedicated to nuclear issues serve as a symbol of each of the 
countries' commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament 
and to the "unalienable right" to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, 
including new approaches to nuclear cooperation and R&D, within 
existing international nonproliferation regimes.  He referred to 
these paragraphs in the joint declaration as a "monument to 
diplomacy." 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The revival of cooperation with India was not without 
internal conflict, according to Mourao.  Initially, the U.S.-India 
agreement was not well-received within the GOB because of India's 
status as a non-member of the NPT.  Even so, some within the GOB 
recognized the value of engaging India.  Thus, to address the 
internal GOB conflicts Mourao said that the GOB persuaded India to 
present a strong public commitment to nuclear disarmament in order 
to help sway internal GOB positions.  This, Mourao explained, would 
help to bring India into a more "structured" discussion to provide a 
way for the GOB to essentially sidestep the fact that India is not a 
member of the NPT.  By doing so, supporters sought to soothe 
internal GOB conflicts and to move the possible nuclear cooperation 
forward. 
 
NEXT STEPS 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Mourao emphasized that Brazil would not begin bilateral 
cooperation with India until the NSG permits it.  He pointed out a 
collateral benefit to the United States, explaining that Brazil's 
interest in nuclear cooperation with India should help to push 
through the USG's proposal to the NSG concerning cooperation with 
India.  He noted, however, that the GOB still has no official 
position yet on the Article 123 Agreement and will probably not 
state one at the next NSG meeting.  At the moment, Mourao said that 
the GOB is "constructing a position" that he thinks will be 
"positive and proactive" upon completion. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) When asked if Brazil intends to supply other countries 
with nuclear material or engage in nuclear exploration with other 
countries, Mourao replied only that the GOB would enter into a 
 
BRASILIA 00002047  002 OF 003 
 
 
nuclear dialogue with India.  This included a visit to India last 
month by Brazilian nuclear regulatory authorities and a reciprocal 
visit to Brazil is scheduled for early next year.  Mourao expressed 
interest in nuclear cooperation between Brazil and India on the use 
of thorium.  He said, India and Brazil are numbers one and three in 
terms of thorium reserves globally, but earlier attempts at 
cooperation had failed due to lack of funding and poor test results. 
 Mourao also emphasized that while the joint declaration by IBSA 
involves three countries, the GOB is only pursuing bilateral 
cooperation with India at the moment, but that the GOB may seek to 
enter into an agreement with SA next year. 
 
BACKGROUND 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Previously, Brazil and India had been engaged in extensive 
discussions of nuclear cooperation.  In 1996, then Brazilian 
President Cardoso went to India to, among other things, negotiate an 
agreement on the use of thorium as nuclear fuel.  At the time, 
Brazil and India were both outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty 
(NPT); Brazil later joined the NPT in 1998.  With its large reserves 
of thorium, Brazil has been very interested in Indian advances in 
processing and using thorium.  In 1998, Brazil suspended nuclear 
cooperation with India following its nuclear tests and, according to 
Mourao, such cooperation is prohibited by Brazilian law.  Mourao 
stated that this national law would now need to be revisited. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) A uranium-poor India would be interested in Brazil as a 
possible supplier of uranium.  According to Industrias Nucleares do 
Brazil, the parastatal company handling uranium exploration, in 2001 
Brazil registered uranium (U3O8) reserves of approximately 309,000 
tons, located primarily in the States of Bahia, Ceara, Parana and 
Minas Gerais.  It reports that Brazil ranks sixth in global uranium 
reserves behind Kazahstan, Australia, South Africa, USA, and 
Canada. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
¶10.  (U) BEGIN EXCERPTS FROM DECLARATION 
---------------------------------------- 
 
DECLARATION OF THE SECOND SUMMIT OF THE INDIA-BRAZIL-SOUTH AFRICA 
DIALOGUE FORUM, OCTOBER 17, 2007 
 
¶1.  The Prime Minister of India, H.E. Dr Manmohan Singh, the 
President of Brazil, H.E. Mr. Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, and the 
President of South Africa, H.E. Mr. Thabo Mbeki (thereafter referred 
as "the leaders") met in Tshwane, South Africa, on 17 October 2007, 
for the 2nd Summit of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue 
Forum. 
 
¶2.  The leaders recognized that since its inception in 2003, the 
IBSA Dialogue Forum provided a strong framework for trilateral 
cooperation in several key sectoral areas amongst IBSA partners. 
They noted that IBSA also provides them an important instrument for 
cooperation on regional and international issues and promoting the 
interests of the developing countries, thus contributing to the 
strengthening and deepening of South-South cooperation. 
 
¶9.  The leaders emphasized their commitment to the goal of the 
complete elimination of nuclear weapons and expressed concern over 
the lack of progress in the realization of this goal.  They 
emphasized that nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation 
are mutually reinforcing processes requiring continuous, 
irreversible progress on both fronts, and reaffirmed, in this 
regard, that the objective of non-proliferation would be best served 
by the systematic and progressive elimination of nuclear weapons in 
a comprehensive, universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable 
manner.  They further emphasized the necessity to start negotiations 
on a phased program for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons 
with a specified framework of time to eliminate nuclear weapons, to 
prohibit their development, production, acquisition, testing, 
stockpiling, transfer, use or threat of use, and to provide for 
their destruction. 
 
¶10.  The leaders strongly emphasized the need for ensuring the 
supply of safe, sustainable and non-polluting sources of energy to 
meet the rising global demand for energy, particularly in developing 
countries.  In this context, they agreed to explore approaches to 
cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy under appropriate 
International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) safeguards.  They 
further agreed that international civilian nuclear cooperation, 
under appropriate IAEA safeguards, amongst countries committed to 
 
BRASILIA 00002047  003 OF 003 
 
 
nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation objectives, could be 
enhanced through acceptable forward-looking approaches, consistent 
with their respective national and international obligations.  They 
also reiterated the importance of ensuring that any multilateral 
decisions related to the nuclear fuel cycle do not undermine the 
inalienable right of States to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful 
purposes in conformity with their international legal obligations. 
 
----------------------------- 
END EXCERPTS FROM DECLARATION 
----------------------------- 
 
SOBEL