Saran, Rice discuss N-deal

Implementation of the historic Indo-US civilian nuclear deal came up during discussions Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran had with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice here.

The meeting with Rice yesterday followed a working lunch Saran had with Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns in which they discussed "all bilateral issues" with a focus on the civilian nuclear agreement, especially the kind of steps that were necessary to take it further, sources said.

The Bush administration is understood to have affirmed its commitment to working with the United States Congress and the Nuclear Suppliers' Group to advance the civilian nuclear energy agreement between the two countries.

Senior officials of the two sides are also said to have discussed the so-called 123 agreement, seen as a technical one, that would have to be approved by the Congress as well.

"These senior level consultations are to advance the United States-India strategic partnership," a senior Bush administration official said.

Saran is scheduled to meet several top lawmakers on Capitol Hill tomorrow, including Senator Joseph Biden, the ranking member in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, crucial lawmakers sitting on the House International Relations Committee including Chairman Henry Hyde, ranking democrat Tom Lantos and co-chair of the Congressional caucus on India and Indian Americans Gary Ackerman.

Meanwhile, China today supported India's cooperation with other countries for nuclear power generation but said non-proliferation protocols should be followed.

"India is a friendly neighbour of China, which approves India cooperating with other countries in nuclear power generation," Chinese premier Wen Jiabao told The Australian newspaper in an interview.

Australia, with 40 per cent of world's uranium reserves, is a potential leading partner in supplying uranium to India.

While approving India's cooperation with other countries for nuclear power generation, Wen said the relevant parties, including, by implication, Australia, should honour their obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which limits uranium sales to other signatories. India has not signed the NPT.

"Peaceful use of nuclear energy for power generation is an important means to develop clean energy and reduce pollution, especially the emission of greenhouse gases. That is why many countries are going in for nuclear energy and have entered into cooperation in this field," he said.