VEINNA: The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) met here on Thursday to consider whether or not India should be allowed to resume civil nuclear trade with the international community.
Assembling amid continued reservations of at least three member countries, the NSG considered a draft of the waiver which is to be adopted by consensus by the grouping.
The draft, moved by the US, recognises India's Separation Plan of its nuclear facilities and contains "voluntary" commitments made by New Delhi towards ensuring non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The two-page draft takes note of India's commitment to "continuing its unilateral moratorium" on nuclear tests and declaring its readiness to "work with others towards conclusion of a multilateral Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT)."
The document also recognises India's pledge to "refrain from transferring enrichment and reprocessing technology to states that do not already possess these."
While taking note of the Safeguards Agreement reached between India and the IAEA, the draft also has the mention about New Delhi's commitment to sign and adhere to an Additional Protocol (with IAEA) with respect to India's civil nuclear facilities.
The process of evolving a consensus decision of the NSG, which is a key step in the implementation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, is expected to be tough considering continued reservations of Ireland, New Zealand and Austria to grant of exemption to India as they apprehend it might impact upon the global non-proliferation system.
Switzerland and Japan too were nursing fears over the move to give a waiver to India but have lately turned around and are unlikely to block the initiative. China has refused to specify the position it will adopt at the NSG, leading to anxiety in New Delhi.
Rest of the NSG member countries favour the initiative.
NSG works by consensus and even if one country opposes, the initiative will be killed.
India and the US have been undertaking a massive diplomatic offensive to persuade all the NSG countries, particularly the sceptic countries, to vote for the waiver, arguing that it will be good for global non-proliferation system.
Even before the two-day NSG meet, the Indian delegation led by Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon did some last-minute lobbying on Wednesday night, meeting representatives of the NSG chair Germany besides South Africa and Hungary, former and next chair of the grouping.
However, diplomatic sources said Austria and New Zealand were holding up the approval even after Ireland reportedly softened its opposition, saying it was aware of the importance attached to the nuclear deal by New Delhi and of the considerable support that exists for its energy diversification.
