New Delhi
1 March 2006
United States President George W Bush flew into India this evening
from Kabul where he said Iran must not have a nuclear weapon and that Osama Bin
Laden will be brought to justice. He also said the proposed civilian nuclear energy
cooperation with India was still being negotiated.
"Our people are talking to Indians today on the plane about trying to come to a civilian
power agreement," Mr Bush was quoted as saying at a joint news conference with
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.
"It is a difficult issue for [India.] It is a difficult issue for [the US.] So, we continue to
dialogue and work and hopefully we can reach an agreement. If not, we will continue to
work on that until we do," he said.
For its part, New Delhi has said there were "gaps on a number of technical issues"
relating to the proposed civilian nuclear energy cooperation between India and the US
and both sides were "still to find closure".
Official sources said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh chaired a meeting of the
Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. The meeting took place ahead of the US
President's arrival at the Palam Technical Area.
Although sources said a "substantive agenda" would be covered by both sides, there is
no word yet on the number of agreements to be signed. Some important announcements
could be expected in energy, science and space, they observed.
However, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran has has said it has decided not to pursue the
matter of sending an Indian astronaut on a US space mission. The Department of Space
has come to the conclusion that it did not fit into its perspective plan.
On the denial of visas to Indian scientists, he said India has raised it "as a matter of
course" and asked Washington to put in place a "liberal and predictable visa policy" so
that scientific exchanges could be promoted.
On Mr Bush's remarks on Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Saran said Jammu and Kashmir was
an integral part of India. "Our position [in this matter] is clear," he said, "Citizens of
Kashmir are citizens of India."
"India has no intention of dropping out of the India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline," he stated
in response to another question on US pressure to stop pursuing the matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment