India PM meets US President in Japan, to go ahead with nuclear deal

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Despite threats of withdrawal of support in the Indian Parliament to the coalition government by the powerful Left allies, the Indian prime minister went to Japan to speak to Bush and other world leaders on the sidelines of the G8 meeting and seek their support for the nuclear deal at IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Government sources also said that the Left's exit was a blessing in disguise as it would allow the government to pursue several defense deals with the US and Israel which could not be done till now due to strong opposition presented by the Left parties.

The Indian market has also reacted positively to the news of Left's pullout, saying the government could go ahead to push privatization and pension reforms, higher foreign limits in insurance and more liberal norms for foreign banks, all of which had been stalled by the Left parties.

Wednesday's meeting between Singh and Bush was significant as earlier, the Bush administration had warned that time was running out for India to proceed with the landmark India-US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement as President Bush's term is set to end in January. White House spokesperson Dada Perino said the US Congress had a heavy workload and "a limited number of legislative days," hinting that India should push ahead with the deal as quickly as possible, especially since the US maintained a strong commitment to complete the deal.

Nuclear experts said the IAEA could take up to 45 days before its Board of Governors takes up the nuclear deal on its agenda. In other words, the safeguards agreement of the deal would not be looked through by the Board before August.

And, the experts added that it would do no good for India to push the agenda through earlier as an "urgent" matter as several IAEA members - especially Austria, Ireland and Switzerland - are against the deal and would likely insist on being given enough time to study the text.

India would also need time to win the support of other members of the 35-nation Board that include Pakistan, China, Japan and Finland, which have expressed reservations about the deal.

However, government sources claim that India's impeccable record as a nuclear-responsible state, its standing in the IAEA and its history of involvement in the evolution of the organization would ascertain that no one would vote against the safeguards agreement when it is brought before the IAEA's Board of Governors.

According to Foreign Secretary, Shivshankar Menon, it would also not be difficult winning China's support when the deal comes before the NSG. "We don't anticipate that this issue will be a difficulty between us. The Chinese side expressed its willingness to cooperate with India in civilian use of the nuclear energy," he said.

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