World | India
Mukherjee tells Bush of N-deal woes
India sought to buy more time to implement its "landmark" nuclear deal with the United States as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee briefed US President George Bush about New Delhi's political compulsions that have stalled it.
- IANS
- Published: 00:44 March 26, 2008
Washington: India sought to buy more time to implement its "landmark" nuclear deal with the United States as External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee briefed US President George Bush about New Delhi's political compulsions that have stalled it.
There was no official word from either side on what transpired at the half hour meeting on Monday, but hours earlier White House press secretary Dana Perino said the president "is excited to meet" the Indian minister and "there's lots of things to talk about."
"We have a broad and deep relationship with India on a variety of issues, including the civil nuclear agreement. And I'm sure they'll talk about other things as well," Perino told reporters.
National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley received Mukherjee at the White House and took him to the Oval office to meet Bush. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was present.
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, Joint Secretary (Americas) Gaitri Kumar, Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen and Deputy Chief of Mission Raminder Jassal also attended.
But there was no indication whether the two sides had been able to find a way out in the face of New Delhi's dilemma over the deal. It has been in limbo for months, thanks to opposition from the Indian government's leftist supporters.
Mukherjee and Rice later met over dinner, presumably to take stock and work out a path forward on the deal that Bush sees as a major foreign policy initiative.
Beyond nuclear
Going by the public comments made by Mukherjee and Rice after a 30-minute formal meeting at the State Department on Monday morning, it was clear that the two sides were looking beyond the nuclear deal to focus on their "transformed" relationship.
"We are interested in implementing the landmark agreement, which we finalised during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (in July 2005) and followed by the subsequent visit of President Bush to India (in March 2006)," the Indian minister said.
"But we have some political problems in our country. Currently, we are engaged in resolving those problems," he said referring to the Indian left's opposition to the agreement, which is coming in the way of Bush's keenness to see it implemented before he leaves office in January 2009.
Mukherjee explained that the discussions are currently in the second, out of four, stages. The second stage is the approval of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in respect of India's specific safeguard agreement. "We are currently engaged with IAEA," Mukherjee said.
"The discussions are over, but the agreements are yet to be initialled and approved by the Board of Governors. We are currently engaged with various political parties who are supporters of our coalition government in India. The discussion is still going on."
Rice said the US considered the civil nuclear deal a "landmark agreement" and believed it "would be good for both sides and good for the future of non-proliferation, as many experts, including [IAEA Director General] Mohammad Al Baradei, have said."
"We will continue to work on that agreement," she said. "The Indians are now in a process of working with the IAEA and we'll follow that progress," Rice added parrying a question about whether the deal would have to be given up if it is not completed and sent to US Congress by July, given the electoral calendar.
Focusing on the US-India relationship, she noted it "has broadened and deepened during the time that President Bush and Prime Minister Singh have been in office and have been working to fully express the nature of a relationship that should exist between two of the world's great, multi-ethnic democracies."
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