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U.S., India Work to Finish Deal Ahead of Bush Visit
Indian and U.S. negotiators attempted to work out differences today on separating Indian civilian and military nuclear facilities in order to finish a nuclear technology sharing agreement before President George W. Bush visits New Delhi, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 28). Officials had hoped to finalize the deal before Bush arrived today, but negotiators have not come to a consensus on which Indian facilities would be subject to International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. “We are doing very hard bargaining,” Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran. He added, though, that there was “some distance” left to cover. “We need a certain degree of clarity on our mutual commitments,” he said yesterday. “We need to make sure there are no ambiguities which may create difficulties for us in the future.” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addressed a topic that has been a point of contention between the nations. “The one thing that is absolutely necessary is that any agreement would assure that once India has decided to put a reactor under safeguard that it remain permanently under safeguard,” Rice said. Rice added that Pakistan is not eligible for a deal similar to the one the United States is negotiating with India. “Pakistan is not in the same place as India,” she said. “I think everybody understands that” (Matthew Rosenberg, Associated Press I/China Post, March 1). Rice also said that failing to come to agreement during Bush’s stay in New Delhi would not mean the trip was unsuccessful, AP reported. “We're still working on it,” she said. “Obviously it would be an important breakthrough.” “We very much would like to have a deal,” she continued. “We are continuing to work on it.” Rice added that if the deal were not completed during this trip, it would be finalized later (Terence Hunt, Associated Press/ABC News, March 1). Completing the deal would mean “recognition of India as a relevant power, as a responsible nuclear weapons state,” said C.U. Bhaskar, deputy director of the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses. An agreement would be “a very big plus” as it would strengthen India’s ability to negotiate similar agreements with other countries, he told Agence France-Presse. “For India, the symbolism of being admitted into the global fold of nuclear states is enormous,” Bhaskar said. “More than the nuclear weapon, it is the access to the loop of global nuclear commerce — obtaining the uranium ore fuel that India is in dire need of — and related high-tech not just from the U.S. but other states such as Russia and France that is crucial,” he added. Bush’s visit to India would be seen as a failure if the deal is not finalized, said Lalit Mansingh, a former Indian ambassador to the United States. “From the point of view of public perception, irrespective of the substance, the visit will be seen as unsuccessful if the nuclear deal does not go through,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Feb. 28).
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