US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to fly yesterday to India to sign a civilian nuclear deal, a landmark in a budding strategic partnership and a foreign policy win for the administration of US President George W. Bush.
The agreement 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, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Rood said.
The top US diplomat was to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Indian 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 said.
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 US$150 billion 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.
But Kimball said state-backed Russian and French firms may have the edge as they will worry less about liability issues than private US firms, which must wait until India signs the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.
India wrote a letter of intent last month to do so, Kimball said.
Russian firms have an extra advantage because they are cheaper and India is used to their technology, he said.
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