The Hindu : Front Page : U.S. hopes Delhi will pursue deal at ‘appropriate’ time

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 17, 2007
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U.S. hopes Delhi will pursue deal at ‘appropriate’ time

We have to work out an arrangement with NSG: Tom Casey
“U.S. would like to see the deal done as soon as possible”

Washington: With India virtually putting the nuclear deal with the United States on hold following the Left parties opposition to it, Washington hopes New Delhi will continue its efforts to implement the agreement “in a time that is appropriate for both sides.”

Without disclosing the details of the conversation U.S. President George W. Bush had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday, the State Department said the deal was “positive” and “good” for both countries as well as for the broader efforts of non-proliferation.

“It’s up to the Government of India to talk about their efforts. Again, I think we’re going to continue to work on our part and we assume they’re going to continue to work on theirs and it’ll be done in a time that is appropriate for both sides,” deputy spokesman Tom Casey told journalists.

“Work with IAEA”

One of the things the Government of India needed to do was to work with the IAEA and establish a safeguards arrangement.

“On our side, we’d of course need to work out an appropriate arrangement with the Nuclear Suppliers Group. And certainly we want to see that get accomplished. But again in terms of the timing and the discussions internally within the Indian political system, I’ll leave that to them,” Mr. Casey said.

“I think what you can assume from that is that we continue to support this agreement.”

The arrangement was positive for both countries and the broader international community and “we’d like to see it done as soon as possible. But that’s within the context of what each country has to do and has to accomplish.”

“I’ll leave it to Indian officials to talk about their own internal political discussions on this. As you know, we believe that this is an arrangement, which is positive and good for the United States, India and for the broader efforts of non-proliferation,” Mr. Casey said.

On Monday evening, Dr. Singh and Mr. Bush talked over phone and the Prime Minister explained to Mr. Bush that “certain difficulties have arisen with respect to operationalisation of the deal,” according to Prime Minister’s Media Adviser Sanjaya Baru.

Mr. Casey said: “Each one of these agreements is complicated. They’ve got a whole variety of things associated with them. I’m not going to try and tell the Indians how to manage their own internal process on this. ... I’ll let other people do the Indian political analysis for you. We believe this is an important arrangement. I think it will be good for both sides, once it’s implemented. And in terms of the timing and the process internally in India, I’ll just defer to the Indians on it.” — PTI

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