US Sending Senior Official to Nuclear Meeting on India | Voice of America - English
The State Department says its third-ranking official, William Burns, will head the U.S. team in critical talks later this week in Vienna on India's nuclear program. The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, the NSG, must approve a key element of the landmark U.S. Indian nuclear cooperation accord.
The decision to send Undersecretary of State forPolitical Affairs Burns to the NSG meeting, normally a working-levelforum, reflects the urgency of the Bush administration effort to getfinal approval for the Indian nuclear deal by the end of the year. Thenuclear accord reached by President Bush and Indian President MonmohanSingh in 2005 would give New Delhi access to U.S. civilian nucleartechnology despite its nuclear weapons program, while openingnon-military Indian nuclear sites to international inspections. Butbefore the U.S. Congress can give the deal final approval, it had to becleared by both the International Atomic Energy Agency and the NSG,which governs global trade in reactors and nuclear fuel. TheIAEA gave its assent to an inspections plan early last month. But anNSG meeting two weeks ago ended inclusively with several membercountries demanding changes to insure that Indian access to nuclearmarkets would not enhance its weapons program. The United Stateswill submit a revised plan to the NSG when it reconvenes Thursday andofficials here say Burns and State Department arms control chief JohnRood, who will both attend the Vienna meeting, have been lobbyingreluctant countries to support it. At a news briefing, StateDepartment Spokesman Sean McCormack declined to forecast approval ofthe revised draft but said U.S. officials strongly believe it meritsNSG support. "We've talked to a lot of those very states. I'm not goingto name names. But we've talked to a lot of them and they've announcedthemselves publicly what their concerns are. We have made, withoutgetting into a lengthy discussion about it, the assessment that this isin our interest, and it's in the interests of India to develop civiliannuclear energy while providing some assurances regardingnon-proliferation activities," he said. Without early NSGapproval, the U.S. Congress may run out of time for final ratificationof the India deal before it adjourns at the end of this month for theNovember election campaign. If the House and Senate do not actbefore then, the deal faces an uncertain future in the next Congress,which may be more solidly controlled by Democrats critical of anarrangement they say undercut U.S. non-proliferation policy. Administrationofficials, who contend the deal means increased scrutiny of the Indiannuclear program, say  failure to act would mean lucrative nuclear dealswith India going to firms in Russia and France rather than the UnitedStates.