|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
India Will Not Sacrifice Nuclear Program for Technology Agreement With U.S., PM Says
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told lawmakers yesterday that New Delhi would not compromise its nuclear weapons program in order to forge a nuclear technology sharing agreement with the United States, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 27). “No part of this process would affect or compromise our strategic (nuclear) program,” Singh said in a speech to parliament, two days before President George W. Bush visits the country. Sixty-five percent of Indian nuclear power capacity would be placed under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards through the required separation of civilian and military facilities, Singh said. However, India’s fast-breeder reactors would be placed outside of the agency’s reach. “Our proposed separation plan entails identifying in phases, a number of our thermal nuclear reactors as civilian facilities to be placed under IAEA safeguards, amounting to roughly 65 percent of the total installed thermal nuclear power capacity, by the end of the separation plan,” he said. “We will ensure that no impediments are put in the way of our research and development activities. We have made it clear that we cannot accept safeguards on our indigenous fast-breeder program,” he added. U.S. Ambassador to India David Mulford said yesterday that “every effort” was being made to complete the deal before Bush arrived. “In the last few weeks, there have been a series of meetings and negotiations, these continue,” he said. “But, of course, this is a very complicated area. Both the countries are breaking new ground. We are hoping we can reach the agreement by the time the president visits here and every effort is being made to do so,” Mulford added (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Feb. 27). The White House said yesterday that it was confident of a deal even if it was not finished by the time Bush arrived, Agence France-Presse reported. “We've made some progress. The negotiations are ongoing. Whether it gets done during the trip or not, we will see. But we believe it will get done,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Feb. 27).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
