US "fully committed" to implementing nuclear deal with India

Allaying fears in India over the recent G-8 declaration regarding restriction on transfer of atomic technology to non-NPT States, the US today said it was "fully committed" to the nuclear deal with New Delhi and hopes to sign the end-use monitoring agreement on Monday.

"We hope to be able to sign that (end-use monitoring agreement), and obviously, that will take place on Monday of next week," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told reporters here on the eve of secretary of state Hillary Clinton's visit to India beginning tomorrow.
    
Against the backdrop of the recent G-8 summit in Italy that came out with a declaration related to restriction on transfer of nuclear technology to non-NPT States including India, Blake asserted that the US was committed to implementing the civilian nuclear deal with New Delhi.

"I do not think there should be any apprehensions about the future of the civil nuclear agreement," Blake told reporters ahead of Clinton's maiden official visit to India.

"The (US) secretary and the President are fully committed to that agreement. I think the Indians are also fully committed," he said.

"They (India) are going to be, I am sure, moving forward to file a declaration of safeguarded facilities with the IAEA, which is sort of the next step in that process, and then we're going to start reprocessing talks, probably either later this month or in August," Blake said.

"So all of that is very much on track. As I say, we'll also be starting some bilateral cooperation with -- hopefully with the announcement of these two nuclear sites. So I would discourage any talk that somehow the agreement is off track," Blake said.

Blake said the US hopes to get commitment from India for two nuclear park sites for American companies during Clinton's visit.

"On the question of the two nuclear sites, we hope that we will be in a position to be able to announce publicly those two sites where US companies can have exclusive right to locate reactors and sell reactors to the Indians," he said amid reports that India has identified the two sites in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
    
"We think that that's a major opportunity for American companies. It opens up as much as USD 10 billion worth of new exports to India. So again, we hope to be in a position for both sides to announce it," Blake said.
    
"The agreement would be with her (Clinton's) counterpart, foreign minister (SM) Krishna. The end use monitoring is the only one that is on the table for the moment," Blake said.

He said the purpose of Clinton's visit to India is to strengthen and broaden the strategic partnership between the two sides.

Obama and Clinton also think there is a scope for broader engagement with India on some of the big global challenges of the world, including climate change and non-proliferation, he said.