The outcome of talks on an agreement with the UN nuclear watchdog on nuclear safeguards for India will be key to advancing the India-US civilian nuclear cooperation deal, analysts said.

 

Experts from India and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have been meeting behind closed doors in Vienna on the pact for the IAEA to monitor India's civilian nuclear reactors, a prerequisite to move forward on the India-U.S. nuclear deal.

The deal, signed in March 2006 during a visit to India by U.S. President George W. Bush, would give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment in exchange for New Delhi's agreement to separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities.

 

While India hopes to wrap up the talks as soon as possible this year, diplomats here said the negotiations have not been proceeding smoothly.

 

India wants an international guarantee on supplies of nuclear fuel and has threatened to pull out from the safeguards pact if fuel supplies are cut off.

 

Analysts said India fears the U.S. offer on nuclear energy cooperation is fraught with intentions to control India's nuclear capacity and include India in the U.S. weapons system to provide business opportunities for U.S. arms producers.

 

The safeguards could also be used by the United States to curb India's nuclear capacity should New Delhi turn defiant, they said.

 

But a Vienna-based diplomat said the Indian demand for guarantee on fuel supplies is unprecedented for the IAEA. It has gone beyond the technical level and probably needs to be addressed on the political level, the unidentified diplomat said.

 

On the other hand, India must also get clearance from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which bans its members from supplying nuclear fuel and technology to countries that are not signatories to the non-proliferation treaty.

 

The United States, which sees the deal as the centerpiece of a new relationship between Washington and New Delhi, is pushing for an exception for India, which is not a signatory.

 

But the attempt has also drawn criticism for circumventing a mechanism that is designed to prevent sensitive materials and technologies from being exported to non-signatory countries.

 

Concessions would have to be made either by India or the IAEA to clinch a pact on safeguards, observers said.

 

Even if the pact is sealed, the India-U.S. deal is still controversial in both the United States and India and other issues are yet to be settled before the deal goes ahead, they said.

 

The two sides are still divided over India's nuclear tests and U.S. supplies of spent fuel reprocessing and reactor technologies.

 

In India, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and leftist parties view the deal as compromising India's sovereignty, threatening to end support for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's ruling coalition.

 

The deal is also subject to congressional approval in the United States, where critics say the Bush administration has made excessive concessions and the deal will lead to a boost of India's nuclear arms capabilities and weaken the international non-proliferation regime.

 

Critics contend the deal sets a dangerous precedent and advocacy groups have launched campaigns to block the deal.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2008)