Mukherjee to lobby for US-India nuke deal at Tehran NAM meet

Tehran, July 28 : India is to lobby for the US-India civil nuclear deal at the Ministerial meeting of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Tehran.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrives here a shortwhile ago to attend that meeting which from New Delhi's point of view is being seen as the final countdown for the voting on India specific safeguards agreement at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which is set to take place early next month.

India has stepped up its efforts in this regards by sending ministerial and bureaucratic teams to the capitals of countries that are members of either IAEA or the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

New Delhi is pulling out all stops to garner support for the agreement.

During his visit Mukherjee will be meeting counterparts of countries which are either members of NSG and IAEA.

He is likely to meet Foreign Ministers of Cyprus, Belarus, Algeria which are also members of the IAEA.

These countries can play key role in seeing the India specific safeguards agreement being approved at the IAEA meeting scheduled to be held in Vienna on August 1st and again later at 45 NSG meeting. By Naveen Kapoor

ANI