NEW DELHI, 19 May 2007 — Despite the India visit of US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns having been “indefinitely” deferred, New Delhi and Washington have refrained from projecting it as a setback in their negotiations on the civilian nuclear deal. This last moment development signals that the ongoing negotiations have hit a rough patch.
Burns, the top US negotiator on the deal, was expected here in the coming week to iron out differences on the deal which would give India access to US nuclear fuel and reactors for the first time in 30 years.
Displaying optimism about the ongoing Indo-US talks on the deal yielding positive results, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said yesterday: “I am hopeful.” He was asked about the reported road blocks in Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, on the sidelines of a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan held to induct a new Cabinet minister.
On whether he was worried about the much-publicized deal, Manmohan replied: “We are in serious negotiations with the US.” On whether he was still optimistic about the deal, Manmohan said that he was “hopeful” that differences would be sorted out. US President George W. Bush telephoned Manmohan earlier this month reiterating his commitment to the deal. Manmohan is likely to meet Bush at a G-8 Summit in Germany in early June.
During the meeting held between Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and Burns in Washington earlier this month, it was agreed that the two would meet again in the latter part of May. Earlier this week, US Embassy spokesperson David Kennedy said here: “The US assistant secretary of state is not coming to India now.”
In Washington, US State Department a spokesperson reportedly said: “Burns will go to New Delhi when we are ready to seal the deal. We’re not at that point yet.” US also specified that Burns could still visit India this month, but “he’s got nothing scheduled for now.”
In New Delhi, when questioned on Burns’ visit, the spokesperson for the External Affairs Ministry said: “No question of cancellation of the visit arises, as there was no schedule of the visit. We will let you know when a visit is scheduled.”
Burns’ visit has apparently been delayed following a set of papers on its position India sent to Washington. The last-minute change in Burns’ plans suggests that Washington finds New Delhi’s suggestions unacceptable. This apparently implies that India and US are still not close to resolving their key differences.
These include India’s objection to a provision, which gives US the legal mandate to halt nuclear cooperation with India, if it tests a nuclear device. India also has objections to US refusal to give New Delhi approval for reprocessing spent fuel with American components.
Meanwhile, Washington has claimed progress on the 123 agreement. Referring specifically to the 123 agreement, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said: “We are making progress on it. It is not complete yet. But I understand that over the course of the past several weeks there have been some positive discussions on concluding that agreement.”
