Saturday, January 29 2005 16:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The proposal of the US-backed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)-related Proliferation Security Initiative needs to be "examined in greater detail", Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today (Jan 29, 2005).

Cautioning that there existed grave dangers of WMD proliferation through sea-lanes as had been borne out by the recent seizures of ships of North Korea and other nations carrying missile components, he said these instances could well be the tip of the iceberg.

Underlining the need for consensual multilateral efforts to curb such clandestine nuclear and WMD networks, the Minister said, "Some initiatives such as the PSI have been mooted. These need to be examined in greater detail".

Emphasising the immediate necessity to institutionalise regional mechanisms aimed at dealing with these threats, the Defence Minister, in his concluding address at the 7th Asian Security Conference, said Indian Navy and Coast Guards could play a significant role in building up maritime cooperation with other regional navies to deal with these threats.

Addressing a wide range of issues, Mukherjee said India had been successful in institutionalising the Sino-Indian dialogue as well as at the same time boosting up economic cooperation with Beijing.

On concerns expressed regarding South Asia being a nuclear flashpoint, Mukherjee said nuclear proliferation should not be compartmentalised and regional relevance should be interplayed with global concerns.