‘Final N-bill will satisfy India’

Nicholas Burns, on the eve of his trip to India, says the final nuclear bill will secure India’s concerns

NEW YORK: US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, used a talk at the Asia Society on Monday to reassure New Delhi that American lawmakers were sensitive to India’s concerns over the nuclear deal and would make enough adjustments during the Senate-House conference to shape a final bill that works for everyone.

Burns who has been the lead US negotiator for the nuclear deal is flying to New Delhi next week to close a bilateral nuclear agreement, dubbed the 123 Agreement. But before his trip, Burns said there would be “sufficient harmonisation” and the Senate and House Bills would be rolled neatly into an acceptable final bill.

“I can tell you that the deal passed by the Senate 10 days ago is within the framework of the agreement Prime Minister Singh and President Bush signed in July 2005 and re-confirmed in March 2006. Now the Indian government has said there are a number of provisions in the House bill that they would like to see modified,” Burns told the Asia Society meeting. 

“We have agreed that we would like to see some of those modifications made in the Senate-House conference which starts this week. I think that with any luck some of those adjustments will be made. We are confident that what will emerge next week will be a bill that is good enough for both our governments and something the United States and India will both support.” 

India has several concerns relating to the Senate and House bills. Prime Minister Singh is already under so much US pressure not to break rank on Iran after going along with the US and European Union in Vienna to haul Iran before the Security Council that he knows it would be nothing short of political suicide to agree to additional conditions on Iran. He has already attacked references to Iran in the House bill.

There are other restrictive clauses in the bills which run counter to the original promise of full-scale civilian nuclear commerce. Section 106 of the Senate bill prohibits the export of any equipment, materials or technology related to the enrichment of uranium, the reprocessing of spent fuel, or the production of heavy water. Experts say this provision will turn India into a sad dumping ground for hopelessly outdated and obsolete technology.

Similarly, Section 107 requires an end-use monitoring programme to be carried out with respect to US exports and re-exports of nuclear materials, equipment, and technology sold or leased to India; and annual certification by the US president that India is in compliance with its non-proliferation commitments.

Another clause of the Senate Bill limits future US supplies of nuclear fuel to an imported reactor’s actual operating needs, making Indian stockpiling of fuel impossible. Analysts say it would be a sell-out for India to accept this provision as India had only agreed to “safeguards in perpetuity” in exchange for assured uranium fuel supplies. “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” is a catch phrase often used by negotiators trying to conclude a deal and Indian scientists fear it may apply to the nuclear agreement signed by President Bush and Prime Minister Singh.

Burns, however, stressed the nuclear deal was a major foreign policy victory for the Bush administration. The US Chamber of Commerce says the deal opens up $100 billion in business ventures for US firms in the Indian energy sector. “In Delhi, I will be meeting with the Indian atomic energy establishment, foreign ministry officials to see how we can take this relationship forward quickly. We have to work out the details of the 123 agreement, which lays down the actual terms of nuclear commerce according to the US Atomic Energy Act. I think those negotiations will go briskly,” said Burns. 

He said India must have its own safeguards agreement with the IAEA finished in a matter of months; “Then the US will lead the effort in the Nuclear Suppliers Group to see that the rest of the world will give India now the advantage the US Congress will give that is to end the pariah status that India has had for 30 years.”