WASHINGTON, May 2: Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said on Wednesday that the US and India have made "considerable progress” in resolving differences over the civilian nuclear deal reached last year.
Mr Menon, who led India's team for the talks in Washington, said, "Both sides want to get this done. We are both keen to do it quickly.”
The statement came after two days of talks between Mr Menon and US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns. A US State Department spokesman said Mr Burns will visit India to complete the negotiations later in May.
Mr Menon said he expects the deal to be wrapped up during Mr Burns’ visit. “As far as I'm concerned, this is doable ... and we want to do it as quickly as possible,” he said but refuse to give a date for signing the agreement.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack termed the talks as "excellent.”
“We look forward to resolving the outstanding issues in the weeks ahead," he said in a statement, arguing that Mr Menon's talks with officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, had yielded “extensive progress.”
The agreement, signed when President George W. Bush visited India, will allow the US to export civilian nuclear fuel and technology to feed India in return for New Delhi opening its civilian nuclear facilities to inspection.
But the agreement bogged down over differences between the two countries, including India's insistence on its right to test atomic weapons and reprocess spent fuel.
Condoleezza Rice: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday that the United States had concerns over India’s relationship with Iran and also opposed the proposed IPI gas pipeline but would not ask New Delhi to sever its links with Tehran in exchange for civilian nuclear technology.
“The United States has made very clear to India that we have concerns about their relationship with Iran. We have made clear to them that we have concerns about the (Iran, Pakistan, India) pipeline," Ms Rice told the Senate and House panels in Washington.
“We have made clear to them that we have concerns about their initial reservations about bringing Iran before the UN Security Council over its nuclear programme,” Ms Rice said.
The dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme comes up for voting at the International Atomic Energy Agency -– the UN nuclear watchdog -– on Thursday.
The United States is hoping that India and other allied nations will vote in favour of referring Iran to the United Nations Security Council for sanctions.
