Talks on 123 Agreement won’t be reopened: US

Saying the deal was in 'best interests' of both countries, Burns hoped it'd come up for a final voting at US Congress in early '08.

Firmly ruling out re-negotiation of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, the United States has expressed confidence that the agreement, which was “fundamentally important” and in the “best interests” of both countries, would go forward.

“I do not foresee it (the negotiations) being re-opened, by either side. Not by the United States, and I don’t think by India either,” Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said at a media roundtable in Singapore on Monday.

Emphasising that the deal was in the “best interests” of both the countries, Burns hoped that it would come up for a final voting at the US Congress early next year.

“There will be a final vote in the US Congress, we hope at the very beginning of 2008. And then this deal will be finished. It will be historic, because it will deliver India from its isolation in the civil nuclear field of the last 35 years,” he said.

The deal would give India “extraordinary economic and technological benefits” and will allow the US and “all of us in international community” to have a more equal relationship with New Delhi, Burns said.

“In that respect, it’s a fundamentally important agreement. We hope and trust it will go forward, but I don’t want to comment on the internal politics of India, that’s for the Indian government to do, not for me,” he said in response to a question, according to a transcript of the roundtable.