US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left for India Friday to sign a civilian nuclear deal, a landmark in a budding strategic partnership and a foreign policy win for the Bush administration. Rice got the green light after both houses of Congress in the last week voted for the agreement which lifts a ban on civilian nuclear trade imposed after India first conducted a nuclear test explosion in 1974.
The deal "bolsters our partnership with the world's largest democracy and a growing economic power, and will provide economic and job opportunities for our economy," she said in a statement ahead of her trip. Rice will sign the agreement, which governs US-India trade in nuclear know-how, equipment and fuel, during her weekend trip to New Delhi, said Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Rood.
The top US diplomat was to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is expected to sign on behalf of his government But before US firms can reap the benefits, Delhi must sign a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog, and a convention on liability.
"At the government level, we still have work to do in order to implement this," Rood told AFP. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the US Arms Control Association, said India has also not provided to the IAEA a list of civilian nuclear reactors that would be open for inspections - a step before the safeguards agreement.
The US Chamber of Commerce said that with India's 34-year nuclear isolation now history, a potential 150 billion dollars (107 billion euros) of new investments were expected in terms of new nuclear generating capacity by 2030. "Companies like GE (General Electric) and Westinghouse, we think, are quite capable of competing there. The other international players, whether they be French or Russian, will be there I'm sure in a substantial margin," Rood said.
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