Tuesday, August 23, 2011
India's concern on ENR norms
From The Hindu
With a few days left before the India-United States Strategic Dialogue kicks off in New Delhi, a top Indian official here said India had conveyed to the U.S its “concern” at the changes made to Nuclear Suppliers Group's guidelines for sale of Enrichment and Reprocessing technology.
While there is still an open question on whether the U.S.' subsequent reassurances that the “clean waiver” granted to India for ENR sales will supersede the wording of the new guidelines restrictive passed by the NSG, the Indian official nevertheless reiterated that ENR technology continued to be “an important issue for India.”
The official added that both in this context as well as regarding foreign partners in India's civilian nuclear energy programme India was not only holding discussions with the U.S., but also with Russia and France in parallel.
Confirming that the Indian nuclear operator, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, and U.S. companies were nevertheless currently involved in detailed discussions on legal and design aspects of prospective joint nuclear projects, the official however expressed optimism that Strategic Dialogue would lead to progress on this front.
In particular the official noted that new regulations relating to the implementation of the nuclear liability bill would be finalised in the months ahead.
Official sources here also added that for the first time the India-U.S. discussions would directly focus upon West Asia, including a discussion of recent developments in West Asia.
Similarly while India's and the U.S.' engagements in East Asia and the United Nations have already been a subject of discussion even before U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to New Delhi last year, that will again be an agenda item next week, an official added.
Mirroring the broad structure of the first round of the Dialogue that was held in Washington last summer, the second round will also consider the entire gamut of cooperative efforts in five key areas including defence and counter-terrorism cooperation; energy and climate; economics, trade and agriculture; science, technology, health and innovation; and education, development and empowerment.
With a few days left before the India-United States Strategic Dialogue kicks off in New Delhi, a top Indian official here said India had conveyed to the U.S its “concern” at the changes made to Nuclear Suppliers Group's guidelines for sale of Enrichment and Reprocessing technology.
While there is still an open question on whether the U.S.' subsequent reassurances that the “clean waiver” granted to India for ENR sales will supersede the wording of the new guidelines restrictive passed by the NSG, the Indian official nevertheless reiterated that ENR technology continued to be “an important issue for India.”
The official added that both in this context as well as regarding foreign partners in India's civilian nuclear energy programme India was not only holding discussions with the U.S., but also with Russia and France in parallel.
Confirming that the Indian nuclear operator, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, and U.S. companies were nevertheless currently involved in detailed discussions on legal and design aspects of prospective joint nuclear projects, the official however expressed optimism that Strategic Dialogue would lead to progress on this front.
In particular the official noted that new regulations relating to the implementation of the nuclear liability bill would be finalised in the months ahead.
Official sources here also added that for the first time the India-U.S. discussions would directly focus upon West Asia, including a discussion of recent developments in West Asia.
Similarly while India's and the U.S.' engagements in East Asia and the United Nations have already been a subject of discussion even before U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to New Delhi last year, that will again be an agenda item next week, an official added.
Mirroring the broad structure of the first round of the Dialogue that was held in Washington last summer, the second round will also consider the entire gamut of cooperative efforts in five key areas including defence and counter-terrorism cooperation; energy and climate; economics, trade and agriculture; science, technology, health and innovation; and education, development and empowerment.
Labels: ENR, Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, Indo-U.S. strategic dialogue, NSG
U.S. expects to discuss “new legislation” on implementing liability law
From The Hindu
“New legislation” to implement India's nuclear liability law is expected to form part of the discussions during the United States-India Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi next week, according to a top administration official here.
Speaking at a pre-Dialogue briefing, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake said it would, however, be up to the Indian government to explain what this new legislation would contain.
He reiterated the Obama administration's view that the U.S. did “expect that [India] will ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation [CSC] before the end of the year as they committed.”
Indian Ambassador here Meera Shankar underscored, during a briefing a few weeks ago, that while India had said publicly that it would ratify the CSC this year, “It is for the U.S. companies now to proceed with commercial negotiations ... and we would hope that the companies would move forward quickly in this regard.” She had added that the nuclear companies “have been in touch,” and held discussions and workshops with India's nuclear power apparatus.
Yet, Mr. Blake implied that in parallel to any talks that nuclear power companies may be having, the two governments' leaders meeting on July 19 in New Delhi would also take up the issue in their discussions. In particular, Mr. Blake said he hoped the new legislation would be consistent with the CSC.
Labels: Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, Indo-U.S. strategic dialogue, Nuclear Liability Bill
Subscribe to Comments [Atom]
