India, US agree to carry forward civil nuke deal talks
by Ashok Dixit

     New Delhi: India and the United States on Friday said that they had arrived at a better understanding of each others points of view on the July 18, 2005 civilian nuclear deal, but said more discussions needed to be held to facilitate a formal bilateral pact on the issue.

   ddressing a joint press conference in the capital after two days of "friendly and intensive" Joint Working Group (JWG) discussions, both Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and U.S.Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, described the July 18 pact sanctioned by President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a "unique but difficult undertaking", the modalities of which had to be worked out to the satisfaction of both Governments. Recalling his visit to Washington last month, Saran said that at that time he had had laid open India's plans on separating its civilian and military nuclear establishments, and had spent time with Secretary Burns and the rest of the American leadership discussing other components of the deal, including safeguards to be put in place and the scope of cooperation envisaged. He said that during the current meeting, the civilian nuclear deal had been discussed in much greater detail. A number of issues were discussed but this was really the first time that we were going into some of the substantive aspects of the proposed agreement. "This current meeting that we had of the Joint Working Group enabled us to carry forward our discussions in much greater detail on all aspects of the proposed agreement. It would be fair to say that I think we have today a much better understanding of the kind of perspectives that the United States has with regard to various aspects of this proposed agreement, and we have a much clearer perspective as well. I think we have come to the conclusion that we need to discuss this in greater detail in the coming days and weeks and this particular dialogue between us will be continued." "In the course of these discussions, we have for example, shared with the United States our plans for a very significant expansion of our civilian nuclear energy capability over the next few years and what kind of scope of international cooperation that we envisage for meeting the targets that we have in the civil nuclear energy sector. So, this has been an extremely useful discussion. It would, as I said, be fair to say that we need to have more discussions on this particular subject,"Saran said.

  In his response, Secretary Burns said that he had had two very good days of discussions with Indian officials, adding that present Indo-U.S. ties had improved to such an extent, as to convince him and others in Washington to see New Delhi as a "global partner" both now and in the future. "We believe that the character and the quality of US-India relations have been transformed by the last several years, particularly through the leadership of the Prime Minister and our President. They have identified a strategic partnership on a global basis between India and the United States that is qualitatively different than any relation that our two countries have had going back to the founding and the independence of India in 1947," Burns said. "So, it is our strong, strong impression that across the board the foundations have been laid for a new relationship both on the bilateral economic, science and technology, agriculture and energy and educational initiatives that the Prime Minister and President laid out in the July 18 statement and, of course, to the cooperation on regional and global foreign policy issues that Foreign Secretary Saran outlined for you. On that score, we do consider India to be global partner," he added. Specifically talking about the civilian nuclear deal, Burns said that the U.S. remained hopeful about taking it to its logical conclusion, but cautioned that it was a difficult undertaking for both sides. "We remain hopeful that we will be able to achieve this agreement. It is a very difficult undertaking and it is a unique undertaking. I am not sure any two Governments have actually had a negotiation quite like this because the situation is unique, Indias position is unique, and there is a complexity and a difficulty to these talks which is inherent in the subject. And yet we worked very well together for two days here. We listened to each other. I believe the American delegation learned a lot from what we heard from the Indian Government about its own perspective. Both Foreign Secretary Saran and I have committed to each other that we will continue these talks hopefully towards an agreement in the not too distant future," Burns said. "A framework has been established. Some progress has been made. Some more progress has to be made," he added. He also said that should the deal be formalised, India would stand to benefit enormously in terms of international trade and sharing of technologies. Both also said that a number of other substantive issues were taken up during their deliberations, including the forthcoming visit to India in March this year of President and Mrs. Bush, the recent developments in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Iran.

    Saran said that he had told Burns that a warm welcome awaits the U.S.first couple, and added that sometime was spent on working out the itinerary, both from a protocol and a substantive point of view. He also said that the visit of the U.S.President was reflective of the transformation taking place in Indo-U.S. ties. "We looked at the itinerary, both the protocol aspects as well as the substantive aspects of the visit; it is really reflective of the very significant transformation that has taken place and is taking place in India-US relations. We had a preliminary and broad discussion on that agenda. Of course, it will be for the advance team that will be coming from Washington and further discussions that we have with our American friends to really get a fix on that itinerary for that very important visit. We both attach a great deal of importance to this visit. It would be really another defining moment in Indo-US relations," he said. Endorsing this view, Burns said the visit substantiated that view that the quality of Indo-U.S. ties "has improved and is very different to what it had been in the previous 30 years." "Your Prime Minister and President Bush are responsible for this. The foundations have been laid for a new bilateral relationship in various sectors, including agriculture, science and technology and energy etc. We do consider India to be a global partner," he said. On the developments in Sri Lanka and Nepal, Burns said Washington was extremely concerned. "Lanka is a major concern. The breakdown of the cease-fire (between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam) is not acceptable to us. The preservation of the cease-fire is of utmost importance). The U.S. is also very concerned about the developments in Nepal --- and India and U.S. have agreed to issue a joint appeal to His Majesty's Government to restore peace and stability in the kingdom," Burns said.

   As far as Iran is concerned, Burns categorically said that the present dispensation in Tehran was a threat to international peace. He said that Iran had overstepped its boundaries as far as centrifugal development was concerned. When specifically asked to comment on the view that Iran and India had similar nuclear capabilities, and that New Delhi was practicing double standards, Burns said these comments by Iran's National Security Advisor Dr. Larijani were simply "outrageous". He said that in Washington's view, there was absolutely no truth to Dr. Larijani's statement and that the U.S. wanted the Iran nuclear issue to be taken up by the IAEA Board of Governors at its next meeting in the first week of February and its referral to the U.N.Security Council for a vote. Burns also said that during his recent visit to London, he had had discussions with the EU3 representatives, and although there was not a complete meeting of minds, there was a consensus that Iran had overstepped its limits and steps should be taken to rein that country in. Saran said that India is supportive of the EU3's moves on the Iran issue, and emphasized that New Delhi did not want a confrontation as it was not in the interest of the parties concerned. When specifically asked whether the formalisation of the Indo- U.S. civilian nuclear deal was dependent on India moving over to Washington's point of view on the Iran issue, Saran emphatically said that the Indo-U.S.civilian nuclear deal was a stand alone issue.

    He also said that he had no reason to feel that the deal would be blocked in the U.S.Congress, as the Indian Government's interactions with several American legislators over the last few weeks had led him to believe that New Delhi enjoyed a fund of goodwill and remained hopeful about a positive response from the U.S.Congress. That the pressure is building up on Iran to end the nuclear standoff is apparent from the fact that Iran's top nuclear official, Dr. Larijani has said that Tehran has "not closed the path to compromise" over its nuclear position. Britain, France and Germany, which have been trying to win guarantees from Iran that it will not use an atomic energy drive as a cover for weapons development, have called for an emergency meeting of the IAEA on February 2. The crisis has escalated after Iran last week commenced resumption of uranium enrichment, which it had suspended for two years under a deal with the Europeans. The EU-3, backed by the U.S., is hoping that the IAEA's 35- member-nation board will refer Iran to the UNSC.

Back to Headlines                  Go To Top