New Delhi
6 May 2008
The eighth meeting of the UPA-Left committee on the India-United
States nuclear deal ended on Tuesday without a breakthrough. The committee will meet
again on May 28 for another round of talks.
The Left parties indicated they did not intend to climb down from their principled
opposition to the nuclear deal. They iterated their objection to the Hyde Act and the 123
Agreement and posted further queries for the Government.
The UPA urged the Left to allow finalisation of a safeguards agreement with International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Mr Shyam Saran, Prime Minister's special envoy, said the
Government will continue to "persuade" its Left allies.
Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee read out a brief statement after the talks
concluded. "Indepth discussions were held on the India-specific safeguards agreement
between India and the IAEA. The Left parties have sought further clarifications which will
be provided in the next few days," he said in the presence of Sitaram Yechury of CPI(M).
Emerging from the 90-minute talks, All India Forward Bloc General Secretary Debabrata
Biswas told reporters the Left sought further clarifications after the UPA asked the Left to
give a go-ahead to it to get the approval of IAEA's Board of Governors for the India-
specific safeguards agreement.
The Board of Governors of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will meet in Vienna,
Austria, from June 2 to 6.
"They cannot move ahead without our clearance and we have sought some more
clarification," Mr Biswas said. The clarifications are understood to have centred around
uninterrupted fuel supply, full civil nuclear cooperation, the issue of reciprocity and
implications of the Hyde Act on India's foreign and security policies.
Mr Biswas said the Left parties did not have as much problem with the India-specific
safeguards pact as the Hyde Act and the 123 Agreement. He acknowledged the
safeguards pact will enable India to enter into bilateral civil nuclear cooperation with
countries other than the US.
The Left parties are likely to meet on May 23 to decide their strategy ahead of next
meeting of the UPA-Left committee.
Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan was the only
person in the 15-member committee who did not attend the meeting as he was out of
station.
The UPA-Left committee last met on March 17.
For his part, Mr Shyam Saran, Prime Minister's Special Envoy on the India-US nuclear
deal and climate change, has said the UPA Government will "persuade" the Left parties
and try to address their reservations or concerns.
He was interacting with media persons at the Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) on
Tuesday afternoon, before the UPA-Left committee met.
According to Mr Saran, the Left parties had raised "valid questions" on the "nature of
obligations of India and the obligations of the US" under the 123 Agreement and the UPA
Government was trying to address the allies' reservations while stressing on
advantages of going ahead with the deal.
He said the negotiation with IAEA is "more or less over". "[We] don't expect any difficulty
in early finalisation of the India-specific safeguards agreement," he said in a media
interaction organised by the Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) on Tuesday afternoon,
before the UPA-Left committee met.
India concluded talks with the IAEA on the elements of a draft safeguards pact in
February.
Mr Saran said the 45-member NSG would be willing to put India's case on its agenda
after the IAEA safeguards pact is wrapped up. On the talks with the Left parties, he said
To a specific question on US Congressional nod after the exemption from NSG, Mr Saran
said New Delhi has no intention of "leaving it unfinished" and India will hope for "a very
broad bipartisan consensus" for the 123 Agreement.
It was "not a matter of going this far and leaving it unfinished," Mr Saran said, adding the
nuclear deal is a joint enterprise between India and the US and therefore "we have to
work together to make it a practical reality."
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