Foreign Secretary Menon meets IAEA chief

Vienna, Jul 19 (PTI) Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon
today met International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.) chief
Mohamed ElBaradei here ahead of a briefing for the U.N. atomic
watchdog's Board of Governors on
the India-specific safeguards agreement.

Menon had a brief meeting with the I.A.E.A. Director
General, sources said. However, the details of their talks
were not known.

The Foreign Secretary is here to brief the 35-member
I.A.E.A. Board and 19 Nuclear Suppliers Group (N.S.G.)
members, which are not part of the Board, on the safeguards
agreement and other aspects of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Menon is expected to press India's case for allowing it
to have civil nuclear cooperation with the international
community. He is likely to cite India's impeccable track
record on the non-proliferation front despite being a
non-signatory to the NPT.

The briefing of the I.A.E.A. Board and NSG members by
Menon along with Department of Atomic Energy Secretary R B
Grover is crucial as the Board will meet on August 1 to
consider approval of the India-specific safeguards agreement
initialled on July 7.

After approval of the safeguards agreement by the
I.A.E.A. Board, India has to get a waiver from the 45-nation
N.S.G. for operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Other members of the Indian delegation are the country's
envoy to I.A.E.A. Saurabh Kumar and Joint Secretary in the
Department of Atomic Energy Gitesh Sarma. PTI LV