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Saturday, Mar 04, 2006

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National

Deal linked to defence purchases?

Diplomatic Correspondent

It has economic benefit also, says Burns

"It is our goal to help meet India's needs in the defence realm, and to provide important capabilities and technologies that India seeks"

NEW DELHI: Is there a link between the nuclear deal of Thursday and defence purchases from the United States?

A Pentagon statement suggests this might well be the case.

"Where only a few years ago, no one would have talked about the prospects for a major U.S.-India defence deal, today the prospects are promising; whether in the realm of combat aircraft, helicopters, maritime patrol aircraft or naval vessels," the U.S. Defence Department said in the statement.

"The next step is to turn the talk of prospective sales into reality. The United States is committed to working with India to do this," the statement said and pointed out that Washington was prepared to offer F-16 and F/A-18 fighter aircraft to New Delhi.

"It is our goal to help meet India's needs in the defence realm, and to provide important capabilities and technologies that India seeks. We are on a path to accomplish this. Our proposal will also address India's interest in technology transfer and indigenous co-production," it said.

U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said on Thursday that while the principal benefit from the nuclear deal was non-proliferation, there was a secondary economic benefit as well.

"That economic benefit is going to be in the billions, there's no question about that, because of the huge nature of the Indian economy and the expansion that they are planning in the civil nuclear energy field. And given the state of technological research on nuclear reactors, and given the elementary ingredient of financing, this is an extremely -- the payoff, the economic benefits, in the long-term, will be substantial, certainly in billions," he said.

Chirac, Blair hail deal

French President Jacques Chirac, who witnessed the signing of an agreement on nuclear cooperation last month, has welcomed the nuclear agreement

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has also welcomed the deal. "I warmly welcome the announcement that India and the U.S. have now reached agreement on civilian nuclear co-operation ... I believe that the deal can make a significant contribution to energy security, development, economic and environmental objectives for India and the international community, as well as represent a net gain for the non-proliferation regime," he said.

"The U.K. has strongly supported this initiative from its inception and has been actively involved throughout. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the U.S. and India, and with partners in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and elsewhere on the detail of this important issue," he added.

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