India, US working hard on nuke deal: (Under Sec. of State) Burns

[TexasLawyer]

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

India, US working hard on nuke deal: (Under Sec. of State) Burns

Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, June 01, 2007


India and the US are "working hard" on taking forward their landmark civilian nuclear deal but it would be "very hard" to put a timeframe on concluding their negotiations, key American interlocutor Nicholas Burns said in New Delhi on Friday.

"We're working very hard, we're working very well," Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, told reporters on the progress to conclude the 123 agreement that will enable the resumption of nuclear commerce with India after a 30-year gap.

"It's very hard to tell...when the work will be done," he added, an indication that differences still persisted on key clauses of the 123 agreement.

Burns arrived in New Delhi on Thursday on a three-day visit to iron out the sticking points in the agreement ahead of a meeting in Germany next week between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George Bush on the sidelines of the G-8 Summit.

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Read more: http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=126e6f7d-6e54-4a35-9a00-4641bb99aed0&&Head

[struggle4progress]

1. Nuke talks move closer to agreement

Published: Saturday, June 02, 2007

New Delhi, June 2: India and the US today moved "much closer" to an agreement to operationalise the civil nuclear deal but persisting "gaps" prevented a breakthrough after the latest round of discussions.

After three days of tough negotiations, India said "some distance" was still to be travelled before the two sides could finalise the 123 agreement that would reflect the July 15, 2005 Joint Statement, March 2, 2006 Separation Plan and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statements to Parliament.

The talks, that included technical-level discussions, could not result in any breakthrough particularly because of differences on whether India should get the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. ~snip~

In view of persisting differences, any major announcement is unlikely after the Prime Minister meets US President George W Bush in Germany next week on the sidelines of the G-8 Summit. The issue would be discussed during that meeting. ~snip~

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