Washington: The Obama administration is quietly moving ahead on the groundwork for a possible civilian nuclear trade agreement with Saudi Arabia — an agreement that could prove to be the most controversial of a string of such US deals in recent years.
The US plans to hold what State Department officials are calling "exploratory talks" in Riyadh this week to gauge Saudi objectives behind their interest in a civilian nuclear deal. The US also wants to explore whether the Saudi government will accept restrictions to ensure its nuclear fuel is used purely for civilian purposes, according to congressional sources.
The US has recently concluded civilian nuclear trade deals — or so-called "123" agreements — with India and is in advanced discussions with countries including Jordan, Vietnam and South Korea.
But Saudi Arabia's interest in such an accord has raised intense suspicions, particularly in the US Congress.
"There aren't many countries you could come up with where people would be more energised in opposition to this kind of cooperation than this one," says one House staffer who was informed on the administration's planned talks, but could speak only on condition of anonymity, due to the fact that the talks have not yet been made public.
"It's an unstable country in an unstable region, and - fairly or unfairly - people think 9/11 when they think of Saudi Arabia. It would be an extremely hard sell," said the staffer.
The State Department first announced Saudi Arabia's interest in gaining access to US nuclear technology for "medicine, industry, and power generation" in May 2008. US-Saudi relations have become considerably rockier since then, and some regional experts say it is important to keep that in mind when considering why the administration is proceeding with exploratory talks now.
— Christian Science Monitor
