February
7, 2008 US to Keep Working
for N-Deal with India By Arun Kumar
Washington
The US says it will continue cooperation with India to complete
their landmark civil nuclear deal even after Washington's key
negotiator Nicholas Burns leaves the State Department in March.
"I think we'll continue our cooperation in order to achieve that
goal of getting the agreement completed," White House spokesperson
Tony Fratto said Wednesday when asked about the fate about the
agreement.
However, he would not say whether President George Bush himself or
anybody else was in touch with New Delhi about the deal which has
been in limbo thanks to opposition from Indian government's leftist
supporters.
Announcing Burns' surprise resignation due to "family concerns" last
month, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had said that the
third ranking top career diplomat would keep a role in working on
the deal after he "retires".
Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, she said had
agreed to "spend some time continuing to work on the India file,
particularly because we would like to push the US Civil Nuclear
Agreement to conclusion if possible".
Burns, 51, himself promised, "to finish this very promising
strategic opening with India which will do so much good for our
country and our global foreign policy".
The implementing 123 Agreement that Burns negotiated with Indian
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon last July has to be approved by
the US Congress before the landmark deal takes effect.
New Delhi also has to wrap up a safeguards pact with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before approaching the
45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for a change in its
guidelines to permit global civil nuclear commerce with India.
A former spokesperson of the State Department, Burns played a key
role in pushing the Henry Hyde Act, the enabling US law through the
Congress in 2006. He played an equally crucial role in hammering out
the implementing 123 Agreement with India last year.
Burns often described the nuclear deal as the centerpiece of a new
strategic partnership with India. "As we Americans consider our
future role in the world, the rise of a democratic and increasingly
powerful India represents a singularly positive opportunity to
advance our global interests," he recently wrote in Foreign Affairs
magazine.
"There is a tremendous strategic upside to our growing engagement
with India. That is why building a close US-India partnership should
be one of the United States' highest priorities for the future. It
is a unique opportunity with real promise for the global balance of
power," he said.
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