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I will be surprised if accord is opposed at IAEA: ElBaradei

T.S. Subramanian

— Photo: PTI/ Subhav Shukla

IAEA Director-General Mohammed ElBaradei at the “HT Leadership Summit 2007” in New Delhi on Friday.

NEW DELHI: International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohammed ElBaradei on Friday said he would be surprised if there was opposition to the agreement [India-specific safeguards] at the level of the IAEA Board of Governors. Asked at a press conference here whether he anticipated any problem at the level of the IAEA Board of Governors if an India-specific safeguards agreement was reached in the wake of the 123 nuclear agreement between India and the United States, Dr. ElBaradei said: “I cannot answer that question. It is for the Government of India and the U.S. government, who are parties to the agreement, to gauge the support and work for the support [of the agreement]. But I don’t see at the agency [IAEA] level. At the Board of Governors level, I will be surprised if there is opposition to the agreement.”

Asked whether the India-specific safeguards that New Delhi would negotiate with the IAEA recognised India as a nuclear weapon state, he said the agency never recognised any country as a nuclear weapon state. “Any safeguards agreement was specific to that country’s nuclear programme. But we don’t have any safeguards agreement saying that you are a nuclear weapon state. That is not our job. It is something in the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty].”

When it was pointed out that the IAEA had different kinds of safeguard systems for nuclear weapon states, non-nuclear weapons, the Additional Protocol, etc, he said the parameters of the safeguards agreement for India were agreed on in the bilateral agreement between the U.S. and India, which would go to the IAEA to implement what had been agreed to by them.

“That is why it is called the India-specific safeguards agreement. It talks about the separation between [India’s] military and civil facilities. India has agreed to keep its military programme out of safeguards but agreed to put civilian facilities under safeguards. So it is very much a generous India-specific agreement,” he said.

Asked whether the Government of India delaying talks with the IAEA would affect the implementation of the agreement, Dr. ElBaradei said he could not speak for the Government of India. Besides, he was an international civil servant and he looked at the big picture. He was, therefore, constrained not to address these issues. Obviously, the Government of India would like to see the agreement operationalised. That was part of the political process taking place right now. Whether there would be consensus this month, next month or a couple of months away, these were procedures. “But I would like to see India stepping into the nuclear mainstream. The earlier it is achieved, it is good for India and the international community.”

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