US official in India for nuclear talks
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-10-21 16:46

A senior US State Department official was to hold talks with India's foreign secretary on a nuclear deal between the two nations that breaks precedent on decades of non-proliferation policy.

US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns will meet Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran on Friday to discuss the deal, which requires New Delhi to separate civilian and military nuclear programs in exchange for advanced civilian nuclear technology.

The deal, agreed between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W. Bush in July, would give India access to technology normally reserved for nations that have signed the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

India would place its civilian nuclear reactors under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections while Washington would lobby the 44-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to allow civilian nuclear sales to India.

The group normally restricts cooperation with countries, like India, that are not NPT members.

Senior US State Department official Nicholas Burns (left) is to hold talks with India's foreign secretary Shyam Saran (right) on a nuclear deal between the two nations that breaks precedent on decades of non-proliferation policy.[AFP]

"I think by the time that President Bush visits New Delhi in early 2006, we will see that both of our countries would have met our commitment in this landmark agreement," Burns said in New York before leaving.

He was instrumental in developing the partnership agreement, including civil nuclear energy cooperation, which he called the "high-water mark" of relations with India since its founding in 1947.

India last month was accused by opposition political parties of caving in to US pressure in supporting an IAEA resolution that opens the door to reporting Iran to the UN Security Council for violating international nuclear safeguards.

The move came after US legislators warned that the nuclear deal, which must be approved by the US Congress, could be jeopardized if India refused to back firm action against Iran, with which New Delhi has valuable energy ties.

Burns said the vote was "a very important sign that India is a responsible nuclear power."

"Since the Indian government's very decisive and clear vote in the IAEA, that issue has disappeared in the US Congress and we now find substantial support in Congress for the agreement reached in July," he said.