Differences persist in Indo-US nuke talks

NEW DELHI: Differences continued to nag the talks between India and the US on Thursday on an agreement to operationalise the civil nuclear deal, with Washington saying the two sides were working "very hard" to conclude the pact.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon held a four-hour meeting with US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns to iron out remaining differences on the '123 Agreement' which has already witnessed "90 per cent progress".

The two sides also held technical-level parleys to discuss intricacies regarding the proposed agreement.

The two countries are aiming at narrowing down differences particularly on issues like reprocessing right, perpetuity of fuel supplies and continuance of the civil nuclear cooperation if India were to conduct an atomic test.

Some differences persisted after the day-long talks, sources said.

"We are working very hard at it," Burns said after his talks with Menon but did not give any details. The discussions will continue on Friday.

India has been insisting on having the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel and is not ready to accept any legally binding clause in the agreement that could cap its strategic nuclear programme.

Before going in for talks, Burns said the two countries were "nearly there" but "some hard work has to be done" to conclude the agreement.

He, however, expressed confidence that the pact will be concluded, saying there were a "lot of reasons to feel optimistic".

The talks assume significance as the two sides are aiming at concluding the negotiations on the agreement ahead of the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush in Germany on the sidelines of G-8 Summit on June 7.

Emphasising that the agreement was in the interest for both the countries, Burns said the "most ambitious proposal" in 30 years will allow correction of "major problems" in the bilateral relations.

It will end India's nuclear isolation, he noted.

Ahead of his visit here, Burns said last week that 90 per cent of the work has been completed and he would be making the "final effort".

He, however, maintained that "some compromises" were needed to be made by both sides for conclusion of the pact.

Burns said the technical-level discussions between the two countries in London had witnessed a "lot of progress".

He noted that it had taken "longer than we thought" to finalise the agreement, talks for which started two years ago.