US awaits India's reaction regarding 123 agreement

Washington, Apr 17: The Bush administration awaits India's reaction to the ''pathway'' the US has suggested to overcome hurdles in way to the 123 agreement, a prerequisite to give effect to the civilian nuclear deal between the two countries.

''I think we've outlined a pathway in order to achieve our mutual objective. And we'll see how the Indian Government reacts to that,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday.

He said the discussions between the two courtiers were currently going on and ''we will see [how they progress].'' The so-called 123 Agreement refers to the section of the US Atomic Energy Act.

''I think we'll have a good idea in the not too distant future how the Indian Government is going to react to some of those suggestions and how quickly we might be able to conclude the agreement, which is really going to be crucial to fully implementing the US-India accord but also crucial to India realising a different kind of relationship with the rest of the international system concerning peaceful uses of nuclear energy,'' Mr McCormack said.

He said, ''those negotiations are ongoing right now and our negotiators have, we think, put out some serious ways to come to a successful conclusion of the negotiations.'' Replying to a query -- Is it true that US is not happy or in fact frustrated with the slow pace of things on Indian side especially, Mr McCormack, said, ''well, we have made great progress in, to this point, fundamentally changing the relationship between the United States and India on the issue of nuclear power.'' ''Those were tough negotiations. I think on both sides they would agree, however, that we came up with a good solution, an equitable solution,'' he added.

A correspondent drew attention to media reports suggesting that there are some demands which US is not happy with and they can break the whole deal.

McCormack said, ''Well, a negotiation is about give and take, and we understand that. There are some areas that -- by which we are restricted under the law and I think the Indian Government needs to appreciate that. But we have sought to be flexible and we have sought to be a good negotiating partner, and I think the record will show that.''

UNI