India will seek Japan support for NSG waiver

New Delhi, Aug 4: After the thumping approval by IAEA, India now is trying to woo the Nuclear Supplliers Grop (NSG) members. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet his Japanese counterpart Masahiko Koumura on Monday, Aug 4 to seek Japan's support in the NSG waiver.

Mukherjee will seek Japan's support for the nuclear deal in the NSG, which is expected to meet in Vienna on August 21 to consider a waiver for India to allow it to resume nuclear commerce with the international community after a gap of over three decades. During his three-day stay in New Delhi, Koumura, the first Foreign Minister from a NSG member country to visit India after the IAEA approval, will have the Second Round of the Ministerial Level Dialogue with Mukherjee.

Japan has already indicated that it wanted to strengthen bilateral relations with India. Earlier, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon had said that India would work with members of the NSG for a clean and unconditional exemption to facilitate full nuclear commerce with the rest of the world.

India still needs a waiver from the 45-member NSG. "India will do its best to move forward with the next steps for implementing the nuclear initiative," Menon said.

ANI