Bush to sign n-pact today

With US President George W Bush slated to sign the Indo-US Nuclear Cooperation Agreement into law...

With US President George W Bush slated to sign the Indo-US Nuclear Cooperation Agreement into law on Wednesday, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to leave for the US this weekend to conclude the formalities of signing the 123 Agreement.

Expectations were high that the 123 Agreement would be signed during US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit on October 4, three days after the US Senate approved the Agreement. However, New Delhi insisted that it would do so only after seeing Bush’s signing statement.

It may be noted that India has certain concerns in the Bill passed by the US Congress. Most of these concerns, largely related to fuel-supply assurances, are in the non-binding portions of the Bill.

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When this was raised during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to Washington, the US assured him that these concerns would be adequately addressed in the presidential signing statement which is now slated for October 8.

Broadly, sources said, the statement will make it clear that nuclear commerce between both the countries will be determined solely by the 123 Agreement. This is in line with what the Prime Minister has assured the Parliament.

Lawmakers, prominent members of the Indian American community, leading businesspeople of the two countries, in addition to the officials and diplomats who played a major role in pushing the deal through before the Congress took a break for the presidential election, have been invited for the signing ceremony.