Dutch political parties want India to sign NPT

New Delhi, Mar 20 (UNI) Most political parties in the Netherlands favour the Indo-US Civilian Nuclear Agreement but are wary that it should not set an example for other countries to follow suit and want New Delhi to sign the NPT.

A Netherlands Parliamentary delegation, currently on a week-long visit to India, said in an interaction with reporters that although it would not be possible to comment on the Indo-US nuclear agreement without knowing the details, preferably it should sign the NPT.

''We very much favour the agreement. But it is very hard to give a more specific judgement without knowing the details,'' Wouter Bos, a Labour Party member of the Dutch House of Representatives, said.

However, ''if it doesn's sign (the NPT), it should look for conditions that it is not harming the NPT,'' said Mr Frans Weisglas, President of the Netherlands House of Representatives and leader of the delegation.

Asked about the Dutch stand on Mittal Steel takeover bid of Arcelor, the delegation members were cautious in their comments saying maintenance of the Dutch policy on such issues was ''in line with'' the European Commission.

''...the mandate is given to the European Commision on behalf of the member states...We are not protectionists.'' They, however, said it was ''comforting'' that the management (of Mittal Steel) had said that workers would not be harmed.

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