Obama to proceed with nuclear deal

The new Obama Administration today assured India that it will proceed with the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal, signed during George W Bush’s tenure, and said the two countries needed to ramp up cooperation in counter-terrorism and global issues such as climate change.

Senior State Department officials gave the assurance to Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, who is on a four-day official visit. On Monday, Menon met Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and discussed the nuclear deal, counter-terrorism cooperation, bilateral issues, Sri Lankan conflict and bringing the situation under control in war-torn Afghanistan. Menon also held talks with Under-Secretary for Political Affairs Nicolas Burns today, where he discussed the landmark civil nuclear deal and other bilateral issues.

During the meeting with the Secretary of State, Clinton told Menon that the two countries needed to ramp up their cooperation in bilateral and global issues, including climate change and counter-terrorism.

“The Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, its current status and the way forward too was discussed during the meeting (between Menon and Clinton),” State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. “I think there was a bit of a discussion on the additional protocol that was just worked out with the IAEA.”

The nuclear deal, which was initiated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the then US President George W Bush in 2005, was signed in October 2008 after it was approved by the Congress. US President Barack Obama had, last year, indicated that his administration will take forward the deal.

“It was a very good meeting – very warm meeting,” Woods said, referring to the first high-level meeting between the two countries. The Mumbai terror attack also figured during the talks Menon had with Clinton, Burns and National Security Adviser General James Jones.

“I think the way they discussed the issue was the fact that we’ve got to do what we can to try to prevent these types of attacks from happening again. I think you can view it in the overall level of cooperation that both the United Sates and India are involved in,” Wood said, adding that there are a number of issues where the US and India can work together. Clinton and Menon also talked a bit about Afghanistan and what needs to be done.

“Secretary was very interested in hearing Foreign Secretary Menon’s views on this subject as well as a host of others,” he said.

On Afghanistan, Clinton listened to the Indian bureaucrat’s viewpoint while not asking India to do something specific.

“It wasn’t so much that we were asking India to do anything specifically. But the Secretary wanted to hear the Foreign Secretary’s views on the best way forward in Afghanistan, from the Indian point of view. That was, in essence, the basis of the discussion,” Woods said. On climate change, Clinton and Menon talked in general about the importance of working together to try to deal with the issue of climate change and global warming, said Wood, who was present during the meeting.

Menon also met key Congressional leaders Jim McDermott, co-chair of the India caucus at the Congress; Howard L Berman, Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs; and Senator Richard Lugar, Ranking Member of the powerful Senate Committee on International Relations.