With just five days left in office, the Bush administration signed a nuclear deal with the United Arab Emirates on Thursday despite concerns in Congress the UAE is not doing enough to curb Iran's atomic plans. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed the nuclear energy co-operation deal, which she signed at the State Department with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
"We applaud the UAE's commitment to the highest standards of safety and security on non-proliferation in its pursuit of nuclear power," said Rice, who said she believed Congress would support the deal. The UAE minister said his government had been "transparent" about the nuclear arrangement, which establishes a legal framework for commerce in civilian nuclear energy between the two countries. "This agreement will give US businesses a better and a newer way of co-operation between our two countries," he said.
A spokeswoman for the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama had no comment on the UAE deal or whether it would have the support of the new White House. Congress has 90 days for review after which the deal will come into law unless there are objections.
California Rep. Howard Berman, chair of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said before the signing ceremony that his panel would carefully consider the deal when it was submitted to Congress.
"I and many other members of Congress place a very high priority on the international effort to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapons capability and will be analysing this and any other nuclear co-operation agreement in the context of how it implicates the attainment of that goal," Berman said in a statement. The United States is at loggerheads with Iran, just across the Gulf from the UAE, over its nuclear program and fears it is trying to build an atomic bomb. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful power generation.
Under the arrangement, the United States will cooperate with the UAE on a peaceful nuclear energy program. For its part, the UAE has promised to draw up laws to govern the sector and establish a nuclear regulatory authority and an international advisory board of nuclear experts as well as to seek assistance from other governments.
It has also agreed to forego any domestic fuel enrichment or reprocessing capability. The UAE has already signed a nuclear co-operation deal with France and its leaders have said the Emirates will work closely with the UN's energy watchdog, the IAEA, for its planned nuclear programs to assure the world it remains peaceful.
Asked about congressional criticism, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the UAE had been very co-operative on working towards a "more peaceful, prosperous, and stable Middle East." A spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House also defended the agreement and said the UAE had committed itself to pursuing the "highest standards of non-proliferation, safety, and security." The United States has similar agreements with more than 20 other countries, including Egypt and India.
Comments
Comments are closed.