| India and the US moves closer to sign a nuclear deal but not close enough |
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| World Affairs Talk | |
| Monday, 11 June 2007 | |
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Under the deal, India will get access to US civilian nuclear technology if it opens its facilities to inspection. If persuaded, the accord will encourage India to develop its nuclear arsenal; Washington is opposed to allowing India to undertake either, but the Indian government said that any restriction over its nuclear operations would be an infringement on sovereignty. India also wants the US to guarantee its supply of nuclear fuel. Earlier, India and the US moved quite closer on finalising a key civilian nuclear deal. Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said after three days of intense talks with US chief negotiator Nicholas Burns, "there were several issues still open when we started talks". He continued "we have come much closer in our understanding of the issues that divide us. We have managed to remove most of the issues from the table”. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh followed up the matter with the US President George W. Bush during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the meeting of the G8 group of industrialized nations in Germany last week. India and the US officials claim, they are now negotiating the fine print of a landmark atomic energy accord and a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to New Delhi was also being worked out. The accord is intended to reverse three decades of US sanctions on nuclear trade with India, even though New Delhi yet not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and successfully tested nuclear weapons in 1998. Under the deal with the US, India is to separate nuclear facilities for civilian and military use and set up a regime of international inspections in return for technology and nuclear fuel supplies. Disparities between the countries remain over India's demand for assurances that the US would continue to supply fuel for its nuclear plants in the event of New Delhi conducting further nuclear weapons tests. India also wants no curbs on the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon confirmed that both parties are optimistic to make the deal. His optimism on bridging differences was shared by Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee. "There is no question of a deadlock," said Mukherjee; "things will come through”, he added. However, a statement from the US embassy in India said that more work remains to be done to complete arrangements that will permit a civil nuclear agreement to be finalized between the two countries. Share & Bookmark             |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 16 June 2007 ) |
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