VIENNA/NEW DELHI: The United States finally persuaded supplier nations yesterday to lift a 34-year-old embargo on nuclear trade with India, following weeks of tough negotiations. The deal now needs the approval of the US Congress.
The US described the breakthrough on the third consecutive day of talks as a “historic” and “landmark” deal that would boost nuclear nonproliferation, while enabling India to meet its huge needs with low-polluting energy.
India called the agreement an “important step” in normalizing its relations with the rest of the world that would help meet the challenge of climate change and sustainable development.
The 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which controls the export and sale of nuclear technology, reached consensus on a one-off waiver of its rules for India, which refuses to sign the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
“This is a historic moment for the Nuclear Suppliers Group, for India, for US-Indian relations, indeed India’s relations with the rest of the world,” acting US Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security John Rood, told reporters at the end of around 90 minutes of talks in Vienna yesterday.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while welcoming the waiver, said: “This is a forward-looking and momentous decision. It marks the end of India’s decades-long isolation from the nuclear mainstream and of the technology denial regime.”
“It is a recognition of India’s impeccable nonproliferation credentials and its status as a state with advanced nuclear technology. It will give an impetus to India’s pursuit of environmentally sustainable economic growth,” he said.
Singh also spoke to President George Bush on telephone and thanked him. Besides, “The two leaders expressed their belief that mutually beneficial relations between India and the United States were in the interest of their peoples, and were on a path of steady consolidation and multifaceted expansion, to which both leaders reiterated their commitment,” official sources said.
The NSG-waiver will “enable India to resume full civil nuclear cooperation with the international community to meet its energy and development requirements,” External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said. “We welcome this decision,” which “constitutes a major landmark in our quest for energy security,” he added.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi congratulated Singh and Mukherjee for the NSG-waiver.
But the communists continued to voice their opposition to the deal. “This is an injustice done to the generation next to come. The Manmohan Singh government has taken an unfortunate decision by submitting our authority before the United States,” Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader A. Vijayaraghavan said.
“Initially it appears that India has neither got a clean nor an unconditional waiver. If this is the case, it is yet another surrender,” CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said.
Senior leader of the main opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Yashwant Sinha, said that “India has walked into the nonproliferation trap set by the US, we have given up our right to test nuclear weapons forever, it has been surrendered by the government.”
— With input from agencies
