Menon to visit US for further talks on Nuke deal

New Delhi, Apr 24: India and the US will hold another round ofdiscussions on the civilian nuclear agreement on April 30-May one inWashington, amid reports of 'frustration' in the Bush Administrationover New Delhi's 'slow pace' of progress towards the finalimplementation of the deal.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon will pay a two-day officialvisit to Washington on April 30 and May 1 for discussions with US UnderSecretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, on theIndo-US Civilian Nuclear agreement.

In Washington, the Foreign Secretary will also meet Ms Paula JDobriansky, US Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs andDemocracy, to continue the India-US dialogue on global issues of commonconcern in the format of the 5th Meeting of the India-US Global IssuesForum.

''The Foreign Secretary will also meet US Under Secretary of Statefor Political Affairs, Nicholas R Burns, for discussions on India-USbilateral agenda, including the bilateral civil nuclear energycooperation agreement,'' an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said.

India has said some progress had been made on the 123 agreement, just another sstep in the final implementation of the deal.

However, crucial bottlenecks--approval by the 45-nation nuclearlobby--the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)--and an India-specificsafeguards agreement by the atomic watchdog, the International AtomicEnergy Agency (IAEA), remain.

Even as both countries have repeatedly expressed commitment to thedeal, the US had made its 'frustration' no secret at the 'slow pace ofprogress' by India.

The agreement was reached between Prime Minister Manmohan Singhand US President George Bush in Washington on July 18, 2005, and givesIndia access to US nuclear fuel and technology for its civilian use.

UNI

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