Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns will meet Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran in London to discuss the US-India Civil Nuclear Initiative and other leading international issues.
WASHINGTON: Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns will meet Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran in London to discuss the US-India Civil Nuclear Initiative and other leading international issues.
The civilian nuclear deal has run into trouble in the US Congress as there are not enough votes to endorse it either in the Senate or in the House, according to Congressional sources.
It has also not received support in India as several questions about the fissile material cut off treaty, the moratorium on further nuclear testing, the CTBT and a host of other such issues have cropped up that have stalled the deal.
The Burns-Saran meeting may sort out some of the more sticky issues around the civilian nuclear agreement and come out with a face-saving formula to move the deal forward.
However, Bush administration officials are optimistic that even though the deal is not a perfect one, it will be ratified by the US lawmakers as it would bring India into the non-proliferation regime.
The deal has, however, garnered some support from unexpected quarters, Australia. "Our current policy is not to sell to countries that don't adhere to the treaty, but we are interested in the US-Indian agreement," Australian President John Howard said in response to questions from students at University College Dublin.
He said the accord is good because "it has brought a lot of Indian facilities under international inspection."
Under the US-India deal, which needs the approval of the US Congress, India will open its civilian nuclear programme to inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.
In addition to US, other members of the so-called Nuclear Suppliers Group, including France, Russia, Japan and Australia, are debating whether to lift their ban on exports of equipment and materials for atomic use to India. Their meeting is scheduled from May 29 to June 2 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Burns and Saran are expected to exchange notes and discuss the latest developments on the FMCT which was presented by the US at the Geneva Disarmament Conference last week.
Besides, talks on Indo-US nuclear initiative, Burns, who left for London on Monday, will deliberate with key US allies on diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons programme.
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