US, India for early FMCT talks

Washington, June 4 (ANI): The United States and India have agreed and committed themselves to achieving an early start of negotiations on a multilateral, non-discriminatory and internationally and effectively verifiable Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty at the Conference on Disarmament.

A joint statement issued after the first US-India Strategic Dialogue held here, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated the two countries' shared vision of a world free of nuclear weapons and restated their commitment to address the challenges of global nuclear proliferation.

Krishna reiterated India's appreciation for President Obama's initiative to host the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.

Both expressed satisfaction over the summit's outcome and the adoption of a Communiqui and Work Plan.

Secretary Clinton welcomed India's announcement of establishing a Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership with focus on advanced nuclear energy systems, nuclear security, radiological safety and applications of radio isotopes and radiation technologies and appreciated India's intent to welcome participation by international partner countries and IAEA in the work of the Centre.

On the issue of energy security, both said that the United States and India have taken crucial steps towards full implementation of civil nuclear cooperation.

Krishna and Clinton reiterated that nuclear energy could make a significant contribution to building a sustainable and clean energy future.

They highlighted the Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation Action Plan recently signed by the two countries.

According to the joint statement, they welcomed the successful conclusion of negotiations on the Arrangements and Procedures Agreed between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of India pursuant to Article 6(iii) of the India-U.S. Agreement Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, which sets forth the arrangements and procedures for India's reprocessing of U.S.-obligated spent nuclear fuel.

They also discussed progress on energy and climate change issues since the signing of the U.S.-India Memorandum of Understanding on Energy Security, Clean Energy, and Climate Change.

They stressed that the Clean Energy and Climate Change Initiative they finalized last year would contribute to achieving sustainable development and a clean energy future for the people of both countries.

Both also discussed their respective national action plans and initiatives to address the challenge of climate change. They noted the enormous potential for scientific and commercial collaboration in clean energy technologies and recognized that their respective experience and expertise in renewable energy and energy efficiency provided a sound platform for building their bilateral partnership further and supporting similar efforts in other countries, especially developing countries.

They reaffirmed their support for the Copenhagen Accord as a positive step forward in meeting the global climate challenge, and underscored its importance in building a consensus in the ongoing negotiations under the UNFCCC.

They also welcomed the launch of the India-U.S. Climate Dialogue, which seeks to enhance bilateral U.S.-India cooperation with a view to achieving a successful outcome of the ongoing multilateral climate change negotiations. (ANI)