US, India reach ‘breakthrough understanding’ on nuclear

• 9 years ago (2015-01-26)
• Junior Isles

North America 1021 Nuclear 659

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US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have reached a “breakthrough understanding” which may finalise the civil nuclear cooperation agreement of 2008 that was supposed to clear the way for the sale of nuclear fuel and reactors to India.

The new understanding removes both the US demand for tracking its nuclear supplies, and US suppliers’ liability in case of a nuclear accident.

President Obama and Prime Minister  Modi both hailed the New Delhi negotiations as a breakthrough and a new step in US-Indian relations.

The US and India have been in a deadlock for six years, with Washington insisting on tracking any nuclear material it supplied to India. The US president used his executive powers to waive the measure and agree that from now on, inspections of India’s use of fissile materials by the IAEA will suffice.

“We are committed to moving towards full implementation,” the US leader told journalists at a conference in New Delhi, where the meeting was being held.

Modi said that “the civil nuclear deal was the centrepiece of our relationship. We worked with a sense of purpose for four months after I visited the US in September last year to make sure the deal is taken forward.”