India: Nuclear Suppliers Group’s Green Signal

After three days of acrimonious debate, the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting at Vienna lifted the 34-year-old embargo on nuclear trade with India.

“An India-specific exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was won only after a flurry of phone calls from President George W. Bush and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice to leaders of a handful of countries opposed to the deal, reports The Tribune.

“Given the time and energy it has invested into the civilian nuclear agreement, the Bush administration now expects something in return: that India will not immediately approach other NSG member states with its nuclear shopping list and disadvantage US businesses, which must wait to begin such commerce until the deal is approved by the US Congress.

“By winning the approval of the NSG, India is free to proceed with individual nuclear commerce agreements with all other NSG members other than the United States. There appears to be no written assurance between the two sides that India must wait before US firms can also compete for nuclear orders…” More here…

Another report adds: “New Zealand and several other countries had expressed fears over granting a waiver to India, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.” More here…