Congressman sends letter of support for HR 4974

Washington, Mar 24: Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina circulated a letter to all his colleagues encouraging them to support House Resolution (HR) 4974, a bipartisan legislation to waive the application of certain requirements under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 to allow the flow of US civilian nuclear technology to India.

HR 4974 was introduced last week in the House of Representatives and the Senate as a first step to allow nuclear commerce with India.

It is yet to be approved by the House and the Senate.

''As we carefully consider all aspects of this legislation, I am hopeful my colleagues will agree that nuclear cooperation with India will improve our nonproliferation efforts, create more American jobs, and strengthen our national security,'' Mr Wilson said.

The letter includes an editorial from ''The Post'' and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina regarding US President George W Bush's historic visit to India and the nuclear agreement between the US and India.

Following are excerpts from the article: Promoting Shared Values ''United States and Indian interests intersect in many areas: in the fight against terrorism; in promoting democracy through a joint Global Democracy Initiative and a new United Nations Democracy Fund; in combating threats to public health such as AIDS and pandemic flu; in developing new energy technologies, including nuclear energy; and in trade. Economic ties are strong. United States exports to India rose 30 per cent in 2005, and despite the controversial outsourcing of American service jobs to India, the US trade surplus with India was 1.8 billion dollars last year.''

Promoting Peaceful Nuclear Technology ''A proposal to share peaceful nuclear technology with a nation that has not joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty--is moving forward...If and when details are ironed out, and India opens its peaceful nuclear activities to international inspection, New Delhi will take its responsible place in the rank of the world's nuclear powers. That will place great pressure on Pakistan to follow suit.'' Promoting Democracy ''By forging a new era in United States relations with South Asia, the President continues to build a foreign policy legacy.''

UNI

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