US wants progress on civilian N-pact with India

Even as US President Barack Obama supported Australia's plans to sell uranium to India, while denying any US role or influence in the policy change, the United States says it wants to see more progress on its own civilian nuclear agreement with India.

Answering a question from Business Standard during a media briefing from Washington, DC, the US Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats said the US wanted to see more movement on the nuclear deal. "We would like to see more progress on this so that American companies will have the opportunity to compete in this sector in India," he said. Hormats added, "There are lots of conversations going on, but we would like to see more progress in this area."

American companies have complained that they cannot enter the Indian market until India's nuclear liability legislation is made compatible with the Convention on Supplementary Compensation, and State Department officials have said this remains a high priority for the US.

The US Department of Energy is also waiting for certain assurances and specific language from the Indian government before it can issue the Part 810 authorization that US suppliers are required to obtain before they can supply nuclear technology to India under the civilian nuclear agreement.

On the proposed Bilateral Investment Treaty or BIT with India, Hormats admitted to Business Standard that the internal review by the Obama administration of its model BIT had taken longer than expected, and that consultations were still on within the administration and with US Congress on the final language of the model treaty.

Contrary to previous statements by India's Commerce Minister Anand Sharma that the two countries were on the verge of finalizing the treaty, the US cannot even begin negotiating a BIT with India until its internal review is completed and the new model BIT is drafted. Hormats explained, "We can't actually begin formal negotiations until we've gotten support for this new model BIT. But we can have technical level consultations on what a new BIT might look like between the US and India. We are very interested in doing this."

US and Indian officials held a round of technical discussions on the BIT in Washington, DC last month.

Hormats, who had attended the APEC summit in Honolulu last week, said the US would play "a much more proactive role in Asia going forward". He also said the US considered India an important partner in the G20 and one of the major players that will shape the global economy in the 21st century, and that his country welcomed foreign investment from India.