U.S., India Urged to Finish Nuclear Deal

An Indian official yesterday said the fate of a proposed nuclear trade deal with the United States would become much less clear if it is not approved before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January, United Press International reported (see GSN, May 6).

“Obviously, the sooner we have the deal, the better,” said Shyam Saran, New Delhi’s top envoy on the agreement.  “As the process continues, the world is not standing still.  The level of political uncertainty will increase.  Therefore, it is in our interest to get it through sooner than later.”

The deal has faced crippling opposition from Indian communist parties, which have threatened to withdraw support from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government and force early elections if the Singh moves to implement the pact.

“This government has a commitment to the agreement and every effort possible will be made to see the deal through,” Saran said, according to the Press Trust of India (United Press International, May 6).

Indian administration officials made little progress yesterday in talks aimed at resolving the stalemate over the deal, under which New Delhi would allow international monitoring of its civilian nuclear sites in exchange for access to U.S. nuclear technology and material.

“The issue is with Indian politics and the Indian government working on their end to try to resolve any issues they may have,” U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday when asked whether the agreement is “just dead” or “moving forward.”

McCormack said he was uncertain to what degree former U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is involved in continued talks on the deal.  Burns served as the top U.S. negotiator on the pact before leaving his position in February, but said he would continue to work on bilateral issues (Indo-Asian News Service I/Times of India, May 7).

Saran also dismissed opposition from Nonaligned Movement states for any move by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to exempt India from its ban on exporting nuclear material to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

At a preparatory meeting for the 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference, NAM members urged a “complete prohibition” of nuclear exports to countries that remain outside the treaty.  The plea might have implicitly referred to India and Israel.

“They have certain viewpoints.  We respect that,” Saran said.  “India is not seeking any special privilege.  It's not an embarrassment to us.  It's the standard position of the [Nonaligned Movement]” (Indo-Asian News Service II/Yahoo!News, May 6).

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