Burns, Saran to have more talks on Friday

     New Delhi: The Government today confirmed that informal talks had taken place between Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and U.S.Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns on the Indo-US civil nuclear energy deal. Briefing reporters here, External Affairs spokesman Navtej Sarna said that a more detailed discussion is expected to be held on Friday during the formal meeting of the India-United States Working Group. He also said that the itinerary of President George Bush during his visit to India in the first week of March would also be discussed along with possible outcomes of the visit.

    Earlier in the day, the third round of talks between Saran and Burns got underway with the aim of ironing out differences on the deal on which the US says 90 per cent of negotiations have been completed. Burns, the chief negotiator on the civilian nuclear energy deal, said there were "still remaining differences" over the deal but both sides were keen on signing the deal during President George Bush's visit. "Both of us want to complete these negotiations but there are still some remaining differences between us and those differences need to be worked out as President Bush said in his speech yesterday the plan must be credible and it must be transparent and so we are still working on these issues," said Burns. When asked whether he saw the deal going through, Burns said: "We simply don't know whether we will have an agreement before President Bush's visit. We are trying our best, both sides. We had a good conversation this morning but there are still remaining differences." The two sides had encountered "difficulties" over the issue of separation of civilian and military nuclear sites, with the US insisting that India put more reactors than it was ready to in the civilian side. These included the home-grown fast breeder reactors (FBRs), a move opposed by New Delhi. The two sides are now understood to have expressed readiness to show flexibility on their respective positions. India, on its part, is believed to have agreed to put at least half of 22 nuclear reactors in the civilian side while the US is understood to have accepted to leave FBRs out of the loop for next seven years.

    Burns arrived in New Delhi from Vienna late on Wednesday for a pre-discussion to carry forward the strategic partnership between the two countries ahead of President Bush's visit in March. During Singh's visit to Washington in July last year, and as per his talks with Bush, the two leaders had declared their resolve to transform the relationship between the two countries and establish a global partnership. This was to be taken forward during the parleys, with both sides keen to further consolidate the new relationship to promote stability, democracy, prosperity and peace throughout the world. For implementing the July 18 Joint Statement regarding civil nuclear energy cooperation, the sources had pointed out that Bush and Singh had agreed last year that they would review progress on this front when the US President visits India. Under the Joint Statement, the US had said it would work for expeditious consultations of fuel supplies for safeguarded nuclear reactors at Tarapur. Burns in his talks last month with Saran had stated that while there was some progress over the last six months on the nuclear issue, there were also "some difficulties" ahead. "This has been a complicated negotiation between two equal parties. But we are committed to it. And as long as both of us show flexibility in the details, I am confident that we will come to an agreement," he said.

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