New Delhi, India and US
have claimed to have broken the 7-year-old logjam in operationalising
their landmark civil nuclear agreement, but they stopped short of announcing
the full-fledged deal as such. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US
President Barack Obama in their joint press conference at Hyderabad House here
today claimed that they had made progress on a deal allowing US companies to
cooperate on civil nuclear power plants in India. But both of them steered
clear of making an announcement that the detailed deal of this sort.
“This
is an important step that shows how we can work together to elevate our relationship,”
Obama said during a press conference that came after bilateral talks with
Modi. Later addressing a press conference, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh
simply said that the deal is done with both the sides having reached the
agreement over the issues of liability law and nuclear tracking.
The US
firms have been reluctant to construct nuclear plants in India if they are not
given a protection from liability after accidents. The Indian lawmakers have
not been ready to give this assurance to the American firms seeking to supply
nuclear plants.
In what
Obama called a “breakthrough”, the two sides have resolved key hurdles
pertaining to the liability of suppliers of nuclear reactors in the event of an
accident and the tracking of fuel supplied by the US and other countries for
its proposed nuclear plants.
“We
have broken the logjam of the past few years. We have reached an agreement. The
deal is done,” Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh announced after extended
discussions between Obama and Modi lasting more than three hours.
The
White House said tonight that the understanding on the civil nuclear programme
resolves the US concerns on both tracking and liability.
“In our
judgement, the Indians have moved sufficiently on these issues to give us
assurances,” Ben Rhodes, US Deputy National Security Adviser told American
journalists.
According to Rhodes, it will
still be for the US companies to assess the market and decide whether to
partake in India’s nuclear programme. Neither country needed to take
legislative action to complete the agreements reached between the two leaders.
The
nuclear deal was the centrepiece of Obama-Modi discussions given its
contentious nature but the two leaders reached understanding on a number of
other areas including defence.
Obama
said US and India have made progress on defence partnership and decided to
renew the framework agreement for 10 more years.
“Today,
we have also decided to take our growing defence cooperation to a new level. We
have agreed, in principle, to pursue co-development and co-production of
specific advanced defence projects.
“These
will help upgrade our domestic defence industry; and expand the manufacturing
sector in India. We will also explore cooperation in other areas of advanced
defence technologies,” Modi said.
The
Foreign Secretary said that assurances are given to the US side on both the
liability clause and tracking issues.
“The
liability provisions and administrative arrangements finalised under 123 act
(tracking) are consistent with our bilateral legal arrangements and contracts
and IAEA safeguards and international laws and obligations,” Singh said.
“The
civil nuclear agreement was the centrepiece of our transformed relationship,
which demonstrated new trust. It also created new economic opportunities and
expanded our option for clean energy.
“In the
course of the past four months, we have worked with a sense of purpose to move
it forward. I am pleased that six years after we signed our bilateral
agreement, we are moving towards commercial cooperation, consistent with our
law, our international legal obligations, and technical and commercial
viability,” Modi said.
On
defence and security, she said both the countries have agreed on four projects
under the Defence Technology Transfer Initiative (DTTI) including exploration
of development of advanced jets in India.
“What
we have done is to operationalise an initiative and identified projects,”
Indian Ambassador to the US Jaishankar said.
The
deal on nuclear cooperation and other areas was clinched between Modi and Obama
after discussions spread over three hours at the delegation level as well as
one-on-one talks besides a tete-a-tete on the lawns of the Hyderabad House
reflecting the warm personal chemistry between the two leaders.
At the
outset, both the leaders said they were committed to deepening relations
between the two countries and the fact that Obama is the first US President to
be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations and also the first to visit
India twice were signs of the growing relations.
On terrorism, the Prime
Minister said it remains a principal global threat taking on a new character
even as existing challenges persist.
“We
agreed that we need a comprehensive global strategy and approach to combat with
it. There should be no distinction between the terrorist groups. Every country
must fulfil its commitments to eliminate terrorists safe havens and bring
terrorists to justice,” he said.
Modi
said the two countries will deepen their bilateral security cooperation against
terrorist groups and further enhance counter-terrorism capabilities including
in the area of technology.
Touching
on regional cooperation, Modi said the two countries renewed their commitment
to deepen cooperation to advance peace, stability, prosperity in Asia Pacific
and Indian Ocean region which is critical for the future of the two countries
and the world.
Modi
said they also discussed working on how to help in the transformation of
Afghanistan, apparently after complete withdrawal of the US troops.
Obama
said both the countries are going to be strong and reliable partners for people
of Afghanistan.
The two
leaders said they have decided to scale up their economic relationship
including holding talks in future on a bilateral investment treaty.
Modi
said India and the US will also restart discussions on a social security
agreement which is important for the hundreds of thousands of Indian
professionals working in the US.
Obama
said in the last few years there has been a 60 per cent increase in the
bilateral trade and wanted the trade level to reach USD 100 billion which he
hoped could be achieved with Modi government’s commitment to liberalise ease of
doing business.(Source- www.newsroompost.com)
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