US, India claim progress in their nuclear talks

By Staff
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Washington, July 21 (UNI) Top officials of both the United States and India claimed ''substantial progress'' in their talks on nuclear cooperation, referring the issue to their political leadership for a formal decision on the landmark agreement which will open doors of American nuclear technology and fuel to India.

A brief cautiously-worded joint statement, issued at the end of their closed-door talks here last night, said, '' The two countries are now looking forward to the completion of these remaining steps and to the conclusion of this historic Initiative.'' According to observers, it appears from the statement that no final agreement has yet been reached, leaving room for further negotiations and resultant delay in the implementation of the deal, signed by President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2005.

The joint statement also lacks any specific timeframe within which the deal will be finalised.

State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey, at his briefing yesterday, however, said efforts to finish the accord would continue.

''Certainly, I will not read a lack of an announcement of an agreement today [Friday] as anything indicating that we won't ultimately be able to have a deal and be able to move forward on this.'' ''It's clear that both countries have the goodwill necessary to do this, are willing to work with one another to achieve an agreement, and we're certainly hopeful we'll get one in the very near future,'' Mr Casey said.

He said: ''We believe that concluding a 123 Agreement is something that is vital to being able to fully implement the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Accord and is something that is important for both countries as well as for reinforcing the non-proliferation regime through an advancing dialogue between the United States and India, as well as India's dialogue with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) in terms of bringing some of their facilities under inspection and under the non-proliferation regime.'' The joint statement said the discussions were ''constructive and positive'' and both US Under Secretary of State for Political affairs Nicholas Burns and Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon were ''pleased with the substantial progress made on the outstanding issues in the 123 Agreement,'' a prerequisite for the implementation of the deal.

''We will now refer the issue to our governments for final review,'' it said.

Mr Burns, who led the US side, and leader of the Indian delegation Menon held four days of meetings here from July 17 to July 20 on the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, for peaceful nuclear cooperation between the two nations.

During their stay here, India's National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Menon met with Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defence Robert Gates and US National Security Advisor Stephen P Hadley.

India's Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Chief Anil Kakodkar had also been camping here to provie consultations. He, however, avoided participation in the formal talks.

If the agreement goes through as is now expected, India will have to accept international inspection in its civilian nuclear facilities in return for access to American nuclear power plant technology and fuel.

Besides Mr Menon, the Indian delegation comprised Deputy Chief of the Indian Mission in Washington Raminder Jassal, India's High Commissioner in Singapore S Jaishankar, India's Atomic Energy Commission official R B Grover, Joint Secretary in the Americas Division of the Ministry of External Affairs Gaitri Kunar and Director in the Prime Minister's Office Venkatesh Varma.

The US side is led by Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns. Its other members, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher and State Department's Office of Nuclear Security and Cooperation Director Robert Stratford assisted Under Secretary Burns in the formal talks.

UNI

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