New Delhi
12 July 2007
New Delhi on Thursday briefed certain European capitals about the
state of play in the negotiations with Washington for a civilian nuclear cooperation
agreement. The discussion took place ahead of the talks between the national security
advisers of India and the US next week.
Sources told this newspaper that Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon met with the
diplomats from the European Union member-states that have their embassies in India.
The India-US civilian nuclear energy cooperation figured in Mr Menon's discussion with
those diplomats, the sources said.
All the 27 member-states of the EU are members of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG). A nuclear trade exemption for India from the NSG is a prerequisite for
commencement of nuclear trade between India and the US. The NSG operates by
consensus.
Some European countries have adopted a policy of wait and watch and indicated that
they would take a stand only after the outcome of the talks between India and the US
become known. A report in the Arms Control Today says "some NSG members, such as
France, Russia, and the United Kingdom, favour granting India a trade exemption, but
other members must still be convinced. The group does not plan to take up the matter
until a 123 Agreement and IAEA safeguards agreement are negotiated."
According to the July 18, 2005 India-US Joint Statement, the US will get the NSG to
change its rules to allow the international community to trade with India in nuclear
technology and materials. Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran is Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's special envoy for negotiations with the NSG members.
New Delhi has said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George Bush
looked forward to continuing "their own discussions" at their next meeting. That meeting
is likely to take place in September when the Prime Minister travels to the US for the
United Nations General Assembly session.
For its part, New Delhi has said that it was looking for a "clean and straightforward"
exemption to the NSG guidelines on enrichment and reprocessing.
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