New Delhi
3 April 2008
The United States will continue to encourage India to wrap up a
safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a US official
said.
"There is much to gain [and] much at stake," visiting US Under Secretary of Energy
Clarence Albright on Thursday told a round table organised here by the Confederation of
Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with United States-India Business Council (USIBC).
"We will continue our strong encouragement," he said, adding the US and India should
"march towards the same end goal", bilaterally and multilaterally, despite the challenges
posed by the political process in India.
The UPA Government may have indicated its preference to wait, and not operationalise
the deal immediately, but egged on by the American businesses, the Indian industry is
becoming restive.
The principal adviser (energy) to CII, Mr Raghuraman, felt the industry needs to "push
the envelope". He also suggested the US industry and government to leverage the
Indian diaspora in the US.
Mr Albright, in his opening remarks, insisted that India and the US are on the cusp of a
"new era of global cooperation" that will be geared towards the objective of "shared
energy security".
Both countries, he elaborated, will rely on fossil fuel for some time to come but with the
management of nuclear waste and reducing the risk of proliferation, nuclear energy can
offer a promising future.
The president of USIBC, Mr Ron Somers, in turn said the India-US nuclear deal will
signal the end of technology denial regime and give India access to the "highest
technology available on Planet Earth".
The US is respectful of the Indian political process but, he hastened to add, "technology
equals prosperity", especially after the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
amends its guidelines to integrate India in the global nuclear commerce.
Mr Somers said there are 400 nuclear reactors in the world today but 2,500 reactors
would be needed in the future. The nuclear deal is "a very important landmark
opportunity" for India, the US and the world, he added.
Mr Albright is in India as part of the US-India Energy Dialogue. According to the US
Department of Energy, Mr Albright will co-chair the Steering Group of the US-India Energy
Dialogue with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon on Friday.
Mr Menon and Mr Albright are expected to discuss opportunities for increased
collaboration in developing and deploying alternative fuels and rapidly increasing
energy efficiency across all sectors.
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