Indo-US talks resume

BONN, Nov 19 (PTI) — India and the USA today resumed their tough negotiations on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in Rome in the backdrop of the recent partial lifting of American sanctions on New Delhi and Islamabad.

"We look forward to this meeting with expectations and hope," Mr Jaswant Singh, the special envoy of the Prime Minister, told PTI on the phone from Rome before going for the sixth round of talks with the US Deputy Secretary of State, Mr Strobe Talbott.

The meeting, being held in a downtown hotel in the Italian capital, is due to last two days and is spread over four to five sessions.

Asked what would be the agenda or the focus of the Rome meeting, Mr Jaswant Singh said, "I can’t say anything".

With the negotiations entering the tough phase as described by diplomatic observers, the Foreign Secretary, Mr K. Raghunath, also joined the Indian delegation. Mr Raghunath had been part of the ongoing dialogue only once before.

It is for the second time that the ongoing dialogue, which began in Washington a few weeks after the May nuclear tests, is being held outside Washington and New Delhi.

Mr Talbott arrived in Rome from Paris after talks with French officials on bilateral issues.

The two delegations once met at an undisclosed venue in Frankfurt for two days on July 9.

While the Indian team also comprises the Ambassador to the USA, Mr Naresh Chandra and the Joint Secretary (Americas) in the External Affairs Ministry, Mr Aloke Prasad, the US team includes the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr Karl Inderfurth, and a member of the American National Security Council, Mr Bruce Riedel.

The Rome meeting is expected to deliberate on the outcome of the recent meeting in New Delhi between Indian and American officials on the nuclear export control mechanisms of their countries.

The New Delhi discussions were billed as an exercise to fill the information gaps and to provide inputs crucial for the political level dialogue which is continuing between the two countries.

The Clinton Administration, while taking note of the progress in the ongoing US dialogue with India and Pakistan, had said recently that "more progress" needs to be made and that ‘many important steps’ should be taken.

India has already committed itself towards speedy conclusion of discussions towards signing the CTBT besides declaring a moratorium on nuclear testing and joining the negotiations for a fissile material cut-off treaty.