UK, France

New Delhi, May 10 (UNI) While countries like the UK, France and Russia have expressed support for adjusting Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines for India, other NSG members are yet to formalise their position, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Parliament today.

The matter at present was under consideration of the NSG and the position of different NSG member countries was still evolving, he informed Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

His reply came in response to question, raised by members Murli Manohar Joshi and Ram Jethmalani, seeking to know whether several countries had expressed dissent to the nuclear agreement between India and America in July 2005 for civil purposes.

Resumption of full civilian nuclear cooperation with India required adjustment of the NSG guidelines. As part of July 2005 India-US understanding on civil nuclear cooperation, US had undertaken to work with its partners in the NSG for adjusting its guidelines to enable full civilian nuclear cooperation and trade in India, he said.

While the US was committed to work with its friend and allies to adjust the NSG guidelines, the government had also taken up the issue bilaterally with a number of NSG member countries.

Besides taking up the issue during summit level interactions with various NSG member countries, an Indian delegation made a presentation to the NSG Consultative Group meeting in Vienna in October 2006 and interacted with the NSG Members in Cape Town in April 2007.

UNI