India hopes U.S. will 'deliver' in securing N.S.G. waiver by Lalitha Vaidyanathan

Vienna, Aug 2 (PTI) After getting the I.A.E.A. nod for a
safeguards agreement, India Saturday hoped the U.S. will
"deliver" in securing for it "clean and unconditional exemption" from the Nuclear Suppliers Group which meets later this month.

"We look forward for a clean and unconditional exemption and it is for the U.S. to deliver as per the July 18, 2005 statement," Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar told P.T.I. here ahead of his departure to India.

Kakodkar, who had spearheaded the tough negotiations at the Friday meeting of the 35-member I.A.E.A. Board of Governors, said "I am hopeful that N.S.G. will appreciate India's position and go ahead with the clean waiver."

However, Kakodkar struck a note of caution taking into
consideration the challenges that may confront India at the
45-nation N.S.G., which is expected to meet on August 21 here.

"Of course, in international affairs, we have to wait
till it happens on the ground level," he said. New Delhi is
lobbying hard to rope in support from a non-committal China
and convince countries like Brazil, Iran, Japan, Ireland,
Austria and Switzerland that voiced reservations on the
safeguards agreement.

With the I.A.E.A. approval, India now needs the go-ahead
from the N.S.G. and then await the approval of the American
Congress to operationalise the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal opening
the doors for nuclear commerce after over three decades of
isolation.

With India's impeccable track record of safety and
non-proliferation, Kakodkar hoped that the members of N.S.G.
would be in a position to understand its needs and give a
clean and unconditional waiver.

He said while every country at the I.A.E.A. meet had a
viewpoint, the nuclear watchdog's Director General Mohamed
ElBaradei spoke about a larger picture of ultimate goal of
ensuring energy security and development in the world.

ElBaradei said he was hopeful that N.S.G. will work
favourably for India as New Delhi has committed itself to
harmonise its laws with export control policies of the N.S.G.

On its part, the U.S. said it would keep up the momentum
as there was still "a lot of work" to be done and "issues"
addressed ahead of the key N.S.G. meeting on the nuclear
deal.

"We still have a lot of work to do," U.S. Ambassador to
the I.A.E.A., Gregory L Schulte, told N.D.T.V. after the
I.A.E.A. meeting."There are issues that we will have to
address."

The U.S. Ambassador said 25 of the I.A.E.A. board members
came out in "strong support" of the safeguards agreement and
"just a couple" of countries raised questions but in the end
they joined the consensus too.

"We have to move forward to the N.S.G. We are going to
keep this momentum up," Schulte was quoted as saying. "The
countries acknowledge India's requirements and legitimacy of
India asking for access to nuclear energy and they seem to
acknowledge that this is in their benefit."

The I.A.E.A. Board of Governors adopted by consensus the
agreement under which 14 of India's 22 reactors, six of which
are already subject to other agency safeguards agreements, are
expected to come under agency supervision by 2014 -- the first
ones as early as 2009.

The Indian delegation during the last couple of days here
had separate meetings with some of the members of the N.S.G.
who were not part of the I.A.E.A. Board.

India had briefed all N.S.G. members along with the
I.A.E.A. Board members last month on the safeguards agreement.