PM, Bush talks raise hopes on Indo-US nuke deal

Berlin, June 7: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold talks with US President George Bush at Heiligendamm, near here, tomorrow amid expectations that the ''pull aside'' meeting would give a political momentum to the virtually stalled negotiations on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

At the informal talks to be held on the sidelines of the summit of G8 and five outreach nations, the two leaders are likely to ask the negotiating delegates to find a way out to overcome their differences, mainly on India's insistence on retaining the right to conduct a nuclear test and reprocess the spent fuel and on a US guarantee that the fuel supplies would continue uninterrupted.

The Singh-Bush meeting comes in the wake of the talks US Undersecretary of State Nicolas Burns had with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and others in Delhi a week ago.

Both sides had acknowledged that tough negotiations were ahead for keeping the July 18, 2005 nuclear deal alive by signing the 123 agreement, necessary for implementing the proposed cooperation on the civilian side.

It is understood that India has come out with new ideas to resolve the spent fuel recycling problem and is expecting a positive response from the US.

Official circles expect Mr Bush to appreciate some of India's suggestions and ask his side to find ways to accommodate them to the satisfaction of the political forces that are keeping a close watch on the developments on the deal.

Mr Menon has, however, told reporters that the nuclear deal, an important component of the bilateral relations, was expected to find only a mention at the talks which would be very brief as Mr Bush had advanced his departure from Heiligendamm.

The two leaders are expected to give a political push to the nuclear deal issue to expedite finalisation of the 123 agreement and implement the July 18, 2005 agreement.

The two leaders are likely to direct the two sides negotiating the language of the agreement to speed up the process and reach a consensus as soon as possible, official sources said.

UNI

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