Agence France-Presse,
The United States and India say they are inching closer to a breakthrough on nuclear cooperation to seal a new era in relations that, during the Cold War, were chilly for decades.
Both sides sounded upbeat after two days of talks here between top US State Department official Nicholas Burns and Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, which were aimed at implementing a July 2005 accord on atomic energy.
Burns, the US under secretary of state for political affairs, will travel to India “in the second half of May to reach a final agreement,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said after what he termed “excellent” meetings.
“We look forward to resolving the outstanding issues in the weeks ahead,” he said in a statement, arguing that Menon's talks with officials including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had yielded “extensive progress.”
Menon would not be tied down on a date to wrap up the landmark nuclear pact but said ahead of Burns' visit: “As far as I'm concerned, this is doable … and we want to do it as quickly as possible.”
The US government had expressed frustration over the pace of the talks to implement the pact, which would give India access to US nuclear energy technology without requiring the Asian country to halt its atomic arms program.
The deal is the centerpiece of energy-hungry India's new relationship with Washington after decades of Cold War tensions, as it tries to sustain its stunning economic expansion.
“I think it's a measure really of how the relationship has been transformed in the last few years,” Menon said.
As India deepens free-market reforms and attracts billions of dollars in investment, the United States sees the emergence of a democratic ally and a bulwark against instability in a restive, nuclear-armed region.
In an opinion piece in Sunday's Washington Post, Burns predicted that “within a generation, Americans may view India as one of our two or three most important strategic partners.”
Based on that strategic premise, the nuclear pact was passed overwhelmingly by the US Congress in December despite some prior misgivings about India's refusal to sign a global test ban treaty.
But differences have persisted, chiefly over a clause which says the United States would withdraw civil nuclear fuel supplies and equipment if India breaches its unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing.
Menon last week sought to dispel fears from Indian critics who say the agreement will hamper the country's nuclear weapons program, nine years after a round of Indian atomic tests sparked a tit-for-tat response from Pakistan.
“Whatever we do with the US will not affect our nuclear strategic program,” he said in a report tabled in the Indian parliament on Thursday.
Under the agreement, India also wants the explicit right to reprocess nuclear fuel, in contradiction of US law.
India has agreed as part of the deal to separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities and allow inspection of the civilian ones.
But New Delhi is believed to oppose another clause which provides for US inspection of its nuclear facilities in case the International Atomic Energy Agency fails to do so.
“The differences are over the consequences of nuclear testing,” G. Balachandran, a visiting fellow at the Indian security think-tank Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, said ahead of the Washington meetings.
“The Americans can't take away the right to test. It's a matter of reaching a compromise over the wording of the deal, not a compromise of interests,” he said.
