United States talks of some progress in nuke deal

Washington, Jun 5: The United States has said the talks between Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns and Indian officials in New Delhi on the 123 agreement ''did make some progress, but there's still work left to be done.'' The US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack made this observation yesterday when asked about Nick Burns' trip to India and the status of the nuclear deal.

''Yeah. I don't have a detailed readout for you. I know that they did make some progress, but there's still work left to be done.

And I can't let me do a little research for you and see if I can get back to you on exactly when the experts will reconvene,'' responded McCormack.

Mr Burns concluded his three-day talks in New Delhi on Saturday without finalising the 123 agreement, a prerequisite for the implementation of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal that seeks to extend rights to India to import nuclear fuel and technology.

It was expected that the officials would finalise the deal during the meeting before President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meet at the G-8 summit in Germany later this week.

During his stay in the Indian capital, Mr Burns had several rounds of discussions with Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv shankar Menon and his aides. He also called on Dr Singh.

President Bush and the Prime Minister had announced in July 2005 an overall deal for cooperation in the civil nuclear field. But since then, diplomats of the two countries have failed to resolve differences, despite several rounds of formal and informal talks.

According to sources, the major sticking points are India's insistence to retain its right to conduct nuclear tests, if the security situation demands, and reprocessing of the imported fuel.

UNI

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