The Bush administration is ready to promote the Indo-US nuclear deal on Capitol Hill after prime minister Manmohan Singh won the vote of confidence in parliament.
NEW YORK: The Bush administration is ready to promote the Indo-US nuclear deal on Capitol Hill after prime minister Manmohan Singh won the vote of confidence in parliament.
The last US Congress session in September has a lengthy list of bills to consider, but the administration is trying to build enough momentum to get the deal on the Congressional agenda.
“We’re going to communicate to the Hill how important we believe this measure is for the US and India,” state department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said.
The Bush administration is relieved there is nothing to hold India back now from rapidly completing the last two steps for the deal to be presented to the US Congress. India’s negotiator RB Grover is already in Vienna with the draft proposal and meeting IAEA representatives to thrash out the fine print. Once India locks down the safeguards agreement with the IAEA, the US will shepherd the whole process through the 45-nation NSG to get it a waiver.
US undersecretary of state for political affairs William Burns is expected to visit Delhi in August. He met IAEA director general Mohammed ElBaradei in Vienna last Friday for consultations on the deal.
Still, the big question is whether there is time for the US Congress to approve it before Bush leaves the White House in January 2009.
Ron Somers, president of the US-India Business Council in Washington, which represents the biggest US firms with investments in India, said industry would be “front and centre” to advocate the deal on Capitol Hill.
India is likely to spend over $100bn expanding its power capacity over the next 20 years and US firms are expecting the N-deal to pave the way for big contracts. This message is unlikely to be lost on the US Congress.
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