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Britain to ease nuclear sanctions against India

LONDON: Britain has decided to ease sanctions against India relating to civilian nuclear energy ahead of Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to New Delhi.

"The Government has notified Parliament yesterday [Wednesday] about the significant changes in its laws regarding the export of dual-use nuclear technologies to India," a Foreign Office spokesman said on Thursday.

The British decision comes close on the heels of the India-U.S. nuclear deal paving the way for the supply of nuclear fuel to Tarapore and other reactors, ending the three-decade-old freeze.

`Case-by-case basis'

Under the relaxed rules, applications for items under the dual-use list of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will now be allowed to India on a `case-by-case basis' and only when their end-use will be in an IAEA-safeguarded civilian nuclear facility.

Applications for other licensable items, even those under Weapons of Mass Destruction end-use controls, will also be opened on a case-by-case basis.

"We will be again opening the door to Indian nuclear scientists and research organisations, academics and nuclear industry officials to come to the U.K.," the spokesman said. — PTI

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