India will start talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency next week about a broader nuclear inspection regime as it tries to garner support from IAEA governors for a US-Indian nuclear deal, diplomats said. India has already negotiated a safeguards scheme with IAEA experts which will be considered by the UN watchdog's 35-nation governing board next week.
Approval is a precondition for launching the US-Indian nuclear trade accord. India and the United States must also win clearance for the controversial 2005 nuclear agreement from a 45-nation group that regulates sensitive nuclear trade. It must then be ratified by the US Congress to come into force.
Diplomats said an Indian move towards accepting a regime known as Additional Protocol, which would extend the IAEA's inspection rights beyond those of the standard safeguards deal, may comfort sceptics in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
"It would be very positive if India moved in this direction, although we are hearing that it will be a long process," said one diplomat, who requested anonymity due to the political sensitivity of the issue. In the safeguards draft the IAEA board will discuss on August 1, India agreed to subject its 14 declared civilian atomic reactors to inspections to help enable it import "trigger list" nuclear items for peaceful use.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, who last week briefed IAEA governors and NSG delegates about the safeguards draft, told them India would try to finalise the Additional Protocol in the fall, diplomats who attended the meeting said.
A senior Indian envoy who will also attend the IAEA board meeting next week is expected to start talks with the IAEA about the Additional Protocol, diplomats said. India's government later on Tuesday faces a no-confidence vote in parliament that will decide the fate of the nuclear deal and could trigger a snap election on the subcontinent.
The IAEA has endorsed the US-Indian deal as a boost for non-proliferation and peaceful use of relatively clean nuclear energy in the developing world. IAEA lawyers have vetted the India inspections draft as consistent with safeguards standards.
The diplomats said they expected tough discussions in the IAEA board of governors but that it would finally give the nod to the deal as it expands the IAEA's inspection rights. India is expected to meet more resistance at the NSG, which fears setting a precedent by awarding an unconditional waiver for trade with one of three countries which have tested nuclear bombs but shunned the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
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