Breach of privilege: Pranab to address both Houses

An official source said the statement, which will be made by the External Affairs Minister in both Houses of the Parliament, will be consistent with the Prime Minister’s commitment on July 22 when he had said that he would come back to the Parliament before “operationalising” the agreement.

The UPA Government, through this detailed statement, will look to dispel concerns that continue to be voiced even after India obtained a clean NSG waiver and signed framework agreements with US and France.

The statement will provide details of the developments on the nuclear front since it won the trust vote on July 22.

Sources said Mukherjee’s statement will refer to President George W Bush’s presidential statement on October 8, as he signed the 123 Agreement into a law. This statement, sources said, is significant since Bush, while signing the agreement into a law, had responded to the two key concerns of the Indian side: the fuel supply assurances and reprocessing rights.

Bush had written that the legislation “does not change the fuel assurance commitments that the US Government has made to the Government of India, as recorded in the 123 Agreement” and the Agreement grants India advance consent to reprocessing which will be brought into effect upon conclusion of arrangements and procedures for a dedicated reprocessing facility under IAEA safeguards.

Besides the Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement, Mukherjee’s statement will also showcase India’s agreement with France which was signed during Prime Minister’s visit to Paris—the first agreement to be inked after the lifting of international restrictions on civil nuclear cooperation with India by the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Besides these two agreements, Mukherjee will also refer to the impending nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia, which is expected to be signed during Russian President Dmitri Medvedev’s visit in December. Incidentally, Mukherjee will also be meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V Lavrov on Monday. Lavrov will be here on a day-long visit to discuss civilian nuclear cooperation.