'India to be engaged in N-trade after certifications are over'

Sridhar Krishnaswami

Washington, Oct 18 (PTI) India could be engaged in nuclear
trade after completion of all certifications under the nuclear
deal, including those concerning the U.S.' Non Proliferation
Treaty (N.P.T.) obligations and enrichment technologies, a top
Bush administration official has said, hoping the
"bureaucratic process" will be over soon.

"All of the certifications will have to be completed... to
engage in nuclear trade. We have to have the agreement into
force and we will exchange diplomatic notes when the President
issues the certification... these are in the train," Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Evan
Feigenbaum, said at a Round Table on U.S.-India relations.

He said there are two phases of certification and the
first phase contains two that would have to be done by the
President before the exchange of the diplomatic note and the
entry into force of the Indo-U.S. nuclear agreement.

One concerns the N.P.T. obligations of the United States
and the other concerns the enrichment/reprocessing
technologies. "Those are at the White House and I expect them
to be done pretty soon -- in the next week to ten days... It
is basically a bureaucratic process," Feigenbaum said.

"One of them has to do whether the Agreement is
consistent with the N.P.T. and the other has to do with
American policy globally towards the spread of
enrichment/reprocessing technologies. There are two
certifications required in the Bill (on the nuclear deal) and
we have prepared these. It is just a question of when the
President signs and I would expect that would happen very
quickly," Feigenbaum said.

He also brushed aside the notion that the Presidential
Statement and remarks during the signing of the legislation
approving the U.S.-India civilian nuclear cooperation
agreement were somehow at "variance" with what officials of
the administration have said.


"I don't accept the premise that the President's remarks
were at variance with what the U.S. officials have said. They
are all consistent," Feigenbaum said at 'The Washington
Foreign Press Centre'.


"And secondly Senator (Barack) Obama and Senator (John)
McCain (the two Presidential candidates) are supportive of the
123 Agreement... and there was overwhelming bipartisan
majority... There is a lot of support for this relationship
and the Agreement. That is the context," he said.


Feigenbaum refused to get into a discussion on the debate
over political versus legal commitments, saying "I have
nothing to say on that that has not been said already. It has
been rehashed and rehashed over and over again."

Speaking about additional certifications, he said there
are two more that have to take place prior to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (N.R.C.) giving licenses.

"That would be after entry into force of the agreement
but prior to the N.R.C. granting licenses," he replied in
response to a query in the context of the visit of a Commerce
Department-sponsored nuclear trade mission to India in the
month of December as announced at the Green India summit by
Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

"One of these concerns the entry into force of India's
safeguards Agreement with the I.A.E.A... and there is another
certification in the Bill regarding a declaration by India to
the I.A.E.A. that it not be materially inconsistent with the
separation plan," Feingenbaum said adding the Additional
Protocol between India and I.A.E.A. is something different and
negotiated prior to the approval of the nuclear watchdog's
Board of Governors.

"The Additional Protocol is something separate that is
happening between India and the I.A.E.A... I understand there
have been several rounds of negotiation between India, the
Director General and the Secretariat of the I.A.E.A. So that
process is proceeding at pace as well."

"The administration had to by law under the Hyde Act
(certify) to Congress that India and the I.A.E.A. were making
substantial progress on an additional Protocol. The President
has so certified... The next challenge is that India and the
I.A.E.A. are continuing along this course to conclude one...,"
Feigenbaum said.

"Substantial progress has been made and so it is not that
it has dropped off the radar screen... Ultimately it is a
negotiation between India and the I.A.E.A.," the senior
official maintained. "We have certified that substantial
progress has been made and we are looking forward for the
conclusion."

The safeguards agreement would enter into force fairly
soon because it is not a question of certification, he said.
"It is a question of conducting nuclear trade... it is not
just the United States; it is for all countries."

"There are two separate basket of certifications... the
two certifications are prior to exchange of diplomatic note
and the entry into force of the 123 Agreement that we signed.

"The other two certifications are prior to the
nuclear regulatory commission of the United States granting
licenses. So there are two discreet phases of this -- one
precedes the diplomatic mechanics of bringing the agreement
into force; the other has to do with licenses," he clarified.

On the future of the agreement that has now been signed
against the backdrop of either the incoming administration or
Congress re-visiting it, Feigenbaum said that the next
administrations in New Delhi and Washington will "inherit" the
123 Agreement.

"The next administration (in the United States)... will
be a big supporter of the U.S.-India relationship and also of
nuclear trade between the United States and India" he said.

In his opening remarks, Feigenbaum maintained that the
civilian nuclear agreement had removed a principal obstacle to
the bilateral relationship and that the deal has strategic,
environmental and non-proliferation benefits.

"We are very proud," he said going on to make the point
that the negotiation between the governments had built on a
"platform of trust," and that the remaining steps were only
technical and bureaucratic.

"This (deal) is historic in a lot of ways," the senior
official said.

Looking past the civilian nuclear initiative and into the
future, Feigenbaum said that there are a whole variety of
global challenges that the United States needs to find a way
to work with India on such issues for example like the Doha
Round and climate change.

"The challenge is three fold: to think more globally
about what the United States and India could do together so it
is not just a bilateral relationship but intellectually we are
thinking it is a more global partnership.

"Second, is to turn common interest into complementary
policy which is not always the easiest thing to do. Third, we
need a much more global conversation in the way we talk to
each other...," the senior official remarked.

"... we are not going to agree on everything but we have
a lot of common interests. Look at the US-India relations
through the global prism... The table is laid for that with
the civilian nuclear initiative removing a big obstacle to a
more strategic relationship," Feigenbaum said.