No change in India’s stand on NSG waiver

A week before the crucial meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group to consider a revised draft allowing international nuclear commerce with India...

A week before the crucial meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) to consider a revised draft allowing international nuclear commerce with India, New Delhi made it clear that it would not accept any conditions beyond what is contained in the Indo-US joint statement of July 18, 2005.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters that India’s position on the issue remained unchanged and that has been conveyed to the NSG member countries.

The NSG had failed to arrive at a final decision at its meeting on August 21 and 22 and is scheduled to meet again on September 4 and 5.

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“We have already presented our case to the NSG. We have told them that India is interested in getting a clean waiver,” Mukherjee said on the sidelines of an official function here.

Mukherjee’s view was reiterated by Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar who said that India would not go beyond the July 18, 2005, statement.

“The agreement (with the NSG) has to be within the ambit of the July 18 statement. We cannot accept any more conditions than what is there in that statement,” he told reporters after delivering a lecture at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

He said he was not bothered about the language used in revising the draft agreement as long as the substance was not changed.

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