[This apparently completes the process of US-India Civilian Nuclear Cooperation deal, culminating in the India-specific Safeguards Agreement with he IAEA and the hard fought for (clean) waiver by the NSG.
The tricky question of the extent of right to reprocess the spent fuel generated out of imported uranium still remains to be tackled.] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Precursor-to-PMs-US-visit-India-notifies-separation-plan-in-IAEA/articleshow/5128379.cms Precursor to PM's US visit: India notifies separation plan in IAEA Indrani Bagchi, TNN 16 October 2009, 02:12am IST NEW DELHI: In the run-up to PM Manmohan Singh's first state visit to Washington in the Obama administration, India has notified its separation plan in the IAEA, which formally separates India's civilian and military nuclear establishments. The plan, which was announced in March 2006, has passed muster at IAEA and India's safeguards agreement is now officially operational. This is likely to help along the negotiations for the reprocessing agreement that is currently under way between India and US. But more than that, this will silence many non-proliferation critics in the new US administration who have been looking at the delay in notifying the safeguards agreement as an example of Indian dithering. After the second round of talks, sources said the two sides are closer to an agreement, and officials are hopeful of this being achieved when Singh goes to Washington. While there has been some agreement, a number of issues on the agreement will have to be referred to the political level. A number of these nuclear issues will come up for discussion during US undersecretary Bill Burns' visit to India, which began on Thursday. But weeks before the Washington visit, Indian officials continue to search for that Big Idea which will distinguish the Obama-India relationship from the Bush-India one. There are few accomplishments to boast of, so the visit will mainly focus on the future. As a quick follow-up to the Bill Burns visit here this week, which is another prep, NSA MK Narayanan will be travelling to Washington towards the end of next week for talks on security and the reprocessing agreement. Post 26/11, counter-terrorism has emerged as a strong area of cooperation, a synergy that was cemented during Chidambaram's visit to the US last month. Therefore, the US is expected to commit to giving technical expertise in building India's version of a national counter-terrorism centre. But apart from this, India doesn't want the visit to be dominated by areas like defence, because the government is much happier keeping the focus of the visit on big developmental issues. Taking off from Hilary Clinton's visit, the big announcements during the Singh visit will most likely be in health, agriculture and climate change. There is a possibility of setting up a green research and development centre in India with help from the US, while environment minister Jairam Ramesh has spoken of a US-style Environment Protection Agency. On the nuclear front, a formal announcement of two nuclear sites for US companies -- in Mitri Vidi in Gujarat and Kovada in Andhra Pradesh -- is expected. But India also wants to push for a pruning of the Entities List, and opening up of dual-use exports to India, which remains a problem, even after the nuclear deal. If mangoes made it to the US during the Bush visit, could India persuade the US to help save the tiger? Sources said, during his recent visit, Jairam Ramesh had held several meetings on this issue, and it's possible that a China-type deal may be envisaged -- US helps fund the "save the tiger" initiative, and India gifts a tiger to the US. Many years ago, the Chinese did a similar deal -- for the panda. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
