India and US agree on historic nuclear trade deal

Published on Saturday 4 October 2008 20:02

US SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the Indian capital yesterday to commemorate – but not sign – a historic deal that opens up US nuclear trade with the Asian giant.

A signing ceremony that had been scheduled was dropped because, according to US officials, a series of administrative steps have yet to be taken in Washington.

Rice was meeting top government officials, including prime minister Manmohan Singh, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and political opposition leaders.

Rice told reporters she expects the civil nuclear cooperation agreement will trigger an across-the-board expansion of American-Indian relations.

Rice said only administrative, not substantive, matters were delaying the signing of the agreement.

US President George Bush has yet to sign the authorising legislation, and once he does he is required to certify that the agreement with India is consistent with US obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, designed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons.

He must also certify that it is US policy to cooperate with international efforts to further restrict transfers of technology related to uranium enrichment and the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.

The agreement on civil nuclear cooperation allows American businesses to begin selling nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to India in exchange for safeguards and UN inspections at India's civilian, but not military, nuclear plants.

Critics in India argue the constraints compromise their country's right to conduct nuclear bomb tests.

The Bush administration considers the deal a crowning achievement of the president's second term in office.

It could, however, turn out to be the last major diplomatic achievement of a presidency that is struggling in its final months on a number of other fronts, including a setback in relations with Russia after its invasion of Georgia and the prospect of a breakdown in a nuclear agreement with North Korea.

Rice stressed that she saw the importance of her visit to New Delhi as focusing on the future, rather than celebrating the completion of the civil nuclear agreement.

"This is a relationship that has now a firm foundation to reach its full potential," she said. "It removes for India a barrier to full integration on a whole range of technologies" and opens the way for closer US-India cooperation in other areas such as defence, agriculture and education, she said.

India built its nuclear bombs outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which it refuses to sign. It has faced a nuclear trade ban since its first atomic test in 1974. Its most recent nuclear test blast was in 1998.

Throughout the Cold War, relations between India and the US were chilly. The US is now India's largest trading partner.