WASHINGTON, March 19: The Bush administration has urged the US Congress not to ask for renegotiating the nuclear deal President George W. Bush had signed in New Delhi earlier this month, said a senior State Department official. The transcript of a recent talk by Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, which was released on Sunday, quoted him as having said that the administration had informed US lawmakers that there were ‘inherent dangers’ in reopening the deal for negotiation.
“We’ve said to members of (the US) Congress we do not wish to renegotiate this deal because if you try to open it up and renegotiate it, you probably won’t be able to put it together again,” he said.
“But we have said to members, if you can get us ideas that do not require us to renegotiate the deal, but that might strengthen it by asking the US to certify certain things that may happen in the future, that would be welcome,” he added.
Pointing out that the agreement was a complex one, the secretary stressed: “To reopen it (the civilian nuclear deal), we’re probably at risk of never being able to achieve it again and to reassemble it.”
Mr Burns, who was the chief US negotiator for the deal, predicted that once Congress and the Nuclear Suppliers Group approve the accord “India is going to embark on a massive expansion of its nuclear power sector”. But he hoped that the great majority of Indian investment in the nuclear industry would fall on the civilian side.
He said the US believed that India would soon obtain 1,000-megawatt power plants, which would come under international safeguards, as agreed in the Indo-US agreement.
“So the percentage of increase, whether it’s the number of reactors or mega wattage under safeguards, is going to increase over time,” he added.
Calling the accord the ‘123 Agreement’, Mr Burns said the understanding was preceded by a year of negotiations on “really tough issues”.
Mr Burns said the bilateral agreement was largely a technical agreement which did not entail a lot of give and take between the two governments because sticky issues had already been resolved.
“So we gave the Indian government a draft copy of the text two days ago. And I think that agreement should proceed expeditiously. It would surprise me if it took much time at all and what we’ve assured members of Congress is we’re happy to share the text with them,” he stated.
Describing the Indo-US understanding for the separation of India’s civil and military nuclear facilities as “a bigger conceptual agreement”, Mr Burns said the Indian side had agreed that eventually 80 to 90 per cent of the country’s nuclear system would be under international safeguards once the deal was implemented.
