US to release details of 123 accord on July 27

Washington, July 27: The Bush Administration will release here today details of the bilateral understating, reached between top US and Indian officials last week, on the 123 agreement, that will give effect to their two-year-old Civil Nuclear deal.

Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns will brief the press on the subject around 10 am local time (1930 hrs IST).

According to reports, the Government of India may do the same in New Delhi today as the agreement had already been approved by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cabinet.

State Department officials yesterday briefed some US Congressmen on the agreement. Some of them had earlier expressed reservations about the deal.

A notice to the press, issued here last night, said Burns would brief the press on the ''status of the US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative and the text of the bilateral agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation (123 Agreement) on Friday, July 27, 2007 at approximately 10:00 am.'' The 'special briefing' will take place at the State Department.

Earlier, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack, in reply to questions, said he was not certain whether the text of the agreement or its 'selective portions' would be released.

''Certainly, we endeavor to be more open rather than less open in the Bureau of Public Affairs, so I'll certainly make the case to be more rather than less open about all the various aspects of the agreement,'' he said.

Besides briefing the lawmakers yesterday, McCormack said, ''I think there have been some discussions with some members of Congress all throughout the process. So, this has been a process of negotiations where we've been working with the Indian Government, but we've also been back briefing the [Capitol] Hill.'' A correspondent drew his attention to the reported complaint of some of the US Congressmen that the administration had been 'very secretive' about these latest changes in the agreement.

McCormack, in reply, said, ''I don't have the list of briefings.

But you know, typically with these sorts of things, you brief a selected membership on both sides of the aisle who have the most direct oversight responsibility or leadership responsibilities. I think that's a pretty typical practice here in Washington.'' ''But bottom line, we believe that this is the right deal for the US national interest, for our relationship with India, as well as for addressing our concerns about nonproliferation globally,'' McCormack said.

He acknowledged that some of the Congressmen had written to President Bush, drawing his attention to reports that the administration may have capitulated to India's demands regarding nuclear cooperation, Democratic Lawmaker Edward J Markey, who has been a staunch critic of the agreement, sent the letter to President Bush, signed by 22 other members of Congress, reiterating that any inconsistencies between the so-called 123 agreement, US law and the underlying intent and purpose of the Hyde Act will put final congressional approval in doubt.

Apparently in response to this letter, McCormack made the Administration's stand clear yesterday, saying, ''We're not going to agree to anything that is not in the United States' national interests. we are certainly not going to do anything that we believe is harmful to either our national security or foreign policy interests.''

UNI