PM to visit Europe, US next month

In a move to showcase India's newly-acquired nuclear status in the global arena, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will go on two significant foreign tours next month — the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York and with a stopover in Paris for bilateral meetings and Marseilles to attend the EU-India partnership summit.

The prime minister’s tours to the US and Europe are to take place after India has got clearance from the Internatinal Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for its ambitious civilian nuclear deal with the US and, as things stand now, is set to get a clean waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group for the deal as well.

The final cherry on the sundae is expected to be the US Congress’ final clearance to the agreement in September.

Singh had skipped the last two sessions of the UNGA and asked External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to represent India. But this time, after the prime minister defied internal pressures and endured a trust vote in Parliament to clinch the IAEA safeguards agreement, he will use the trips to both the US and Europe, the home of many dedicated anti-proliferationists, to showcase the unique status India today enjoys in the world — that although it is not a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it is being recognised as a nuclear power and potential trade partner in this sector by a host of leading nations.