New Delhi, January 19
The visiting US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns today told the Government of India that US President George W. Bush would visit India in early March and the exact dates would be formally announced by the White House in due course.
India and the USA today held their third round of talks on the implementation of the nuclear agreement between the two countries on July 18 last and had an intensive discussion on the Indian plan for separation of civil and military nuclear facilities.
The focus of the day-long talks between the US delegation led by Mr Burns and Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran was the separation exercise, which would be completed towards the end of this year.
Mr Burns went on record at his press conference in Mumbai yesterday that the separation exercise was a long and complicated affair.
“This is not easy, it is actually quite challenging, it is quite complex, but it is an agreement that is going to be in the interests of both countries,” he said.
He admitted that differences were bound to be there.
“There are a number of complications, but I have confidence that we will reach this agreement and I think that there has been consensus on both sides as well,” he added.
The discussions hovered on the US viewpoint of a broad outline of the Indian separation plan, which Mr Saran had handed over during his recent visit to Washington.
Discussions on this would continue tomorrow.
The two sides also reviewed the regional situation and bilateral relations.
Iran was the thrust area of the talks on regional situation.
The USA sought New Delhi’s support for the IAEA resolution at its February 2 emergency meeting in Vienna.
Washington was of the view that Iran should cease and desist from producing nuclear weapons’ capability.
