September 20, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 07, 1428

VIENNA, Sept 19: Indian officials met top-ranking officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency on the sidelines of the UN watchdog’s general conference here on Wednesday, diplomats said.

“There was a bilateral meeting between agency officials and the Indians. It was the normal sort of meeting that member states would have” within the context of the general conference, a diplomat said.

He could not confirm, however, if the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, had taken part in the meeting.

India must begin key negotiations with the IAEA if a nuclear deal that New Delhi recently signed with United States is to go ahead. The agreement will allow India to buy atomic fuel, technology and plants from the US even though it is not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. However, there appears to be no sign of progress just yet.

An IAEA spokesman said that there no new developments in the situation between the agency and India, specifically in terms of nuclear safeguards.

“There is still no approach from India about safeguards,” the spokesman said.

The US-Indian nuclear pact has come under heavy fire in India, particularly from opposition parties and the government’s communist allies who argue it will limit India’s strategic options.

In a speech to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s general conference on Wednesday, India’s atomic energy commission chief Anil Kakodkar made no direct reference to the deal, but alluded to it only indirectly.

“We are looking forward to the possibility of opening up of international civil nuclear cooperation,” he said.—AFP