New Delhi
22 February 2007
Once negotiations over implementing the bilateral 123 agreement
are completed, the India-United States civilian nuclear cooperation agreement will come
up for US Congressional approval in an up or down vote, with no room for amendment,
by the end of this year or early 2008, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs
Nicholas Burns has said.
President George Bush will then sign the final bill into law. "I am determined that we are
going to get there as quickly as possible -- I know we will," he said at a dinner hosted on
Monday by the US-India Friendship Council. "We will continue to rely on this bipartisan
support that's being built up as we go along," he added.
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, who is visiting Washington for the two-day India-
US High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) meeting, has since had discussions on
the bilateral relations with Mr Burns.
Mr Menon is expected to follow up on the discussions prime minister's special envoy on
nuclear issues Shyam Saran had in Washington in January with Mr Burns on the way
forward on the 123 Agreement. He will convey New Delhi's concerns over certain
elements of the enabling US legislation signed by US President George W Bush in
December last year.
New Delhi is not ready to accept any legally binding provision on future nuclear testing
in the 123 Agreement. It is also not happy with provisions relating to conditional access
to reprocessing technology, end use verification of reprocessed fuel and the attempt to
cap India's strategic nuclear programme.
On his first visit to Washington after taking over as foreign secretary, Menon will also
meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other officials in the departments of state,
commerce, agriculture, energy, defence and the National Security Council.
No comments:
Post a Comment