U.S. Offers Changes to Nuclear Trade Rules for India

The United States has completed a draft revision of international trade rules to allow nuclear sales to India, and it has submitted the changes for consideration by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Hindu reported Friday (see GSN, Aug. 8).

Indian officials reviewed the draft and were pleased to see that the text no longer included a suggestion that New Delhi someday accept international supervision over all of its nuclear facilities, according to the Hindu.  The draft was delivered Thursday to NSG chair Germany and the group is scheduled to begin formally reviewing the document on Aug. 21 in Vienna.

Approval of the draft would allow India to purchase key nuclear materials and technology after being banned from such trade for more than 30 years.  New Delhi has agreed to accept international monitoring of the nation’s civilian nuclear activities.

Some lawmakers in Washington, however, have urged NSG nations to ensure that any rules changes comply with U.S. nonproliferation measures, such as automatically ending nuclear sales if India conducts any nuclear tests (see GSN, Aug. 7; Sandeep Dikshit, The Hindu, Aug. 8).

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