Govt green light for nuke deal
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice expected to travel to India for sealing the 123 agreement.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: India is ready to sign the 123 agreement after a joint meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security and the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs approved the draft text of the deal which has been negotiated with the US.
The draft of the agreement will be released simultaneously by New Delhi and Washington on Friday.
The deal will be signed in India, and US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice is expected to travel to India for sealing it. But the deal can only be inked after the US Congress votes on the 123 agreement in an up-or-down vote.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired a joint meeting of the CCS and the CCPA where Cabinet ministers were briefed on the details of the 123 agreement by National Security Advisor MK Narayanan.
The two Cabinet committees, after an hour’s meeting, gave their approval to the bilateral nuclear agreement which will govern future nuclear cooperation between the US and India. After the meeting, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said the text of the 123 agreement was placed before the Cabinet ministers at the joint meeting and "they approved the agreement".
He also tried to assuage concerns about various provisions of the civilian nuclear agreement. "All concerns of India have been reflected and adequately addressed (in the agreement)," Mr Mukherjee said, in an apparent reference to the issue of reprocessing of spent fuel and fuel supply assurances, among other issues.
The government has embarked on a consensus-building exercise which includes explaining the details of the 123 agreement to both its allies and the Opposition before the Parliament session starts. Mr Mukherjee said that the government had started consultations with UPA partners. Mr Mukherjee will meet Leader of the Opposition LK Advani on Thursday to explain the provisions in the 123 agreement.
The 123 agreement needs to go to the US Congress for approval while the PM or Mr Mukherjee will make a statement on it on the first working day of the monsoon session of Parliament on August 11.
The US, meanwhile, said that the US secretary of state would be travelling to India at some point. “I expect that she will travel to India at some point. I can’t tell you when. That’s not been scheduled, but she looks forward to travelling to India again,” state department spokesman Sean McCormack said. The 123 agreement is expected to be signed during that visit by Ms Rice and Mr Mukherjee. But that is also not likely to happen in a hurry. The two sides can only sign the agreement after the US Congress approves the 123 agreement.
The draft of the agreement will be released simultaneously by New Delhi and Washington on Friday.
The deal will be signed in India, and US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice is expected to travel to India for sealing it. But the deal can only be inked after the US Congress votes on the 123 agreement in an up-or-down vote.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired a joint meeting of the CCS and the CCPA where Cabinet ministers were briefed on the details of the 123 agreement by National Security Advisor MK Narayanan.
The two Cabinet committees, after an hour’s meeting, gave their approval to the bilateral nuclear agreement which will govern future nuclear cooperation between the US and India. After the meeting, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said the text of the 123 agreement was placed before the Cabinet ministers at the joint meeting and "they approved the agreement".
He also tried to assuage concerns about various provisions of the civilian nuclear agreement. "All concerns of India have been reflected and adequately addressed (in the agreement)," Mr Mukherjee said, in an apparent reference to the issue of reprocessing of spent fuel and fuel supply assurances, among other issues.
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The meeting was attended by Cabinet ministers, including defence minister AK Antony, home minister Shivraj Patil, finance minister P Chidambaram, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, railway minister Lalu Prasad and surface transport minister TR Baalu. The government has embarked on a consensus-building exercise which includes explaining the details of the 123 agreement to both its allies and the Opposition before the Parliament session starts. Mr Mukherjee said that the government had started consultations with UPA partners. Mr Mukherjee will meet Leader of the Opposition LK Advani on Thursday to explain the provisions in the 123 agreement.
The 123 agreement needs to go to the US Congress for approval while the PM or Mr Mukherjee will make a statement on it on the first working day of the monsoon session of Parliament on August 11.
The US, meanwhile, said that the US secretary of state would be travelling to India at some point. “I expect that she will travel to India at some point. I can’t tell you when. That’s not been scheduled, but she looks forward to travelling to India again,” state department spokesman Sean McCormack said. The 123 agreement is expected to be signed during that visit by Ms Rice and Mr Mukherjee. But that is also not likely to happen in a hurry. The two sides can only sign the agreement after the US Congress approves the 123 agreement.
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And the Hyde Act also requires that India show significant progress in the negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency for an India specific safeguards before the two houses of the US Congress vote. The 45-member NSG group also has to agree by consensus to change its guidelines to allow nuclear trade with India.Download
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