USA/FILE: U.S. Senate debates India-U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement

The U.S. Senate on Thursday (November 16) finally began to debate long-stalled legislation that would open the door to nuclear cooperation between the United States and India for first time in three decades. The deal, which would bring India in line with some key international norms, was reached in principle by Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2005. Key Senate leaders who are prime authors of the legislation expressed confidence that the bill would ultimately pass, putting India a major step closer to being able to purchase U.S. nuclear fuel, reactors and related technology. "Madame President, I urge my colleagues to approve the U.S.-India agreement. This legislation will allow the United States to engage in peaceful nuclear cooperation, while safeguarding U.S. national security, and nonproliferation efforts, as well as congressional perogatives. This is an opportunity to build a vital strategic partnership with a nation that shares our democratic values, and will exert increasing influence on the world stage. We should move forward now," Republican Richard Lugar of Indiana, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told the Senate. Sen. Joseph Biden, who is expected to become committee chairman when Democrats take control of Congress in January and who co-sponsored the bill with Lugar, stressed the need for cooperation with India. "If I were asked to name the pillars of security in the 21st century, India and the United States would be two of them. India, and the United States working in cooperation toward the same goals can provide the beginning of a strong foundation for a stable world. If the United States - no relationship in my view. No relationship is more important than the U.S.-India relationship maturing along the lines that has begun. The ultimate success of this agreement will rest on India's willingness and ability to reduce tensions with its nuclear neighbours and achieve nuclear stability," Biden said. But Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota argued that the agreement would enable India -- which never signed the landmark nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty -- to accelerate production of nuclear weapons, increasing tensions with nuclear rival, Pakistan. "Any nuclear deal, any relationship we have with another country that deals with nuclear power and nuclear issues should be judged, in my opinion, on whether it reduces the number of nuclear weapons. Does it reduce the number of nuclear weapons that exist, or decrease them? It's quite clear that what we're debating today will result in an increase of nuclear weapons in India. I don't think there's much doubt about that. This bill fails that test in my judgment," Dorgan said. Critics in the nuclear nonproliferation community say that by giving nuclear materials and assistance to India, the United States may be sending the wrong message to Iran, and North Korea. Henry Sokolski is the Executive Director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. "By sending this nuclear fuel, we're freeing up resources, the arms control community is concerned that would otherwise not go to a bomb programme. So indirectly, the argument is, we will be violating our solemn pledges under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. Why that is a worry is that we're trying to get North Korea and Iran to live up to their NPT pledges. It's a bad look, they argue, that we might be violating it," Sokolski told Reuters. The U.S.-India deal would require the rising South Asian power to open civilian nuclear facilities to international inspections, forgo future nuclear tests and cooperate with the United States and other nations on halting the spread of nuclear exports. If the Senate approves the bill, it will have to reconcile differences with the House of Representatives version, then both chambers would have to vote again on a final bill. But that is not the end of the road. The House and Senate would vote again after negotiations on the technical details of the U.S.-India nuclear trade relationship, in what is known as a "123 agreement," named after a section of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act. Also, India must complete negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency on a system of inspections for its civilian nuclear facilities and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group must change its regulations to allow nuclear transfers to India.

ITN Source | November 17, 2006

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