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U.S.: address ‘next issue’

MANILA: The United States has placed the onus on India to create the momentum for activating their latest civil nuclear energy accord.

This was indicated by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, after his talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Manila on Wednesday. The two met on the sidelines of a series of multilateral meetings being organised by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Mr. Negroponte told The Hindu that the Bush Administration “will advocate strongly for the agreement” in the U.S. Congress.

Tracing, however, the countdown for a Congressional initiative, Mr. Negroponte said:

“Now, the next issue is: the Government of India will be dealing with the International Atomic Energy Agency to reach an agreement and with the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Those are the two next steps. And then, only after those steps have been completed, will we submit the agreement to our Congress.

“But, together with our [Bush Administration’s] agreement [with New Delhi] and the fact of an agreement [as might now be finalised] with the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, that would give substantial momentum to the [U.S.-India] agreement inside of our own Congress.”

Mr. Negroponte’s comment acquires importance in the current context of some fresh political contention in the U.S. over this civil nuclear energy pact.

Asked about the moves for the formation of a U.S.-India-Japan-Australia forum of democracies and militaries, Mr. Negroponte said, “We have no plan to meet on a quadrilateral basis at this particular time” at the ministerial level.

Official sources on the Indian side said no target dates had been set for “the calendar of activities” that both India and the U.S. would need to undertake so as to translate their civil nuclear energy accord into a reality.

Mr. Mukherjee and Mr. Negroponte agreed to sustain the “momentum” generated by this latest accord, these sources said.

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U.S.: address ‘next issue’

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