New Delhi, December 24
United States’ Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns will come here next month on a crucial visit during which the final nuts and bolts for implementation of the July 18 Indo-US nuclear agreement are expected to be fastened, diplomatic sources said today.
It is also expected that India will complete its ongoing exercise for separation of its civil and military nuclear facilities by the time Mr Burns comes here next month-end.
The attempt of the two countries will be to finalise and finetune everything so that when President George W. Bush comes for his “historic” visit to India in early March, he can make a major announcement.
Mr Burns will hold the fourth meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) which has been specially created for ensuring implementation of the nuke deal. The JWG is headed by Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran from Indian side and Mr Burns from the American side.
Mr Saran and Mr Burns held the third meeting of the Indo-U.S. Working Group on Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation in Washington earlier this week, which produced positive forward movement on a range of issues.
Both sides exchanged views on the implementation of their respective commitments under the July 18 Joint Statement. The two sides also shared ideas about the processes that flow from these commitments in their own countries and with relation to their international partners.
According to the Americans. “significant progress” was achieved in developing a mutual understanding on the steps needed for early implementation of the agreement.
The third JWG also discussed a broad range of bilateral initiatives designed to build a new strategic partnership between the two countries. These initiatives, agreed by President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2005, include revitalised dialogue and cooperation on economics and trade, environment, energy, agriculture, space cooperation, disaster response, HIV/AIDS and aiding developing democracies.
