New Delhi, April 16
India is making a determined but unobtrusive effort with the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) which began its five-day plenary in Cape Town, South Africa, today to put the record straight among those continuing to have misgivings about the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.

Even as the US has admitted that India's track record on the nuclear issue is impeccable and not in question, there are some in the grouping - Japan for instance and certain Nordic countries like Norway and Sweden - continuing to have reservations about the adverse fallout if the proposed Indo-US nuclear deal goes through.

India's high commissioner to Singapore S. Jayashankar involved in the negotiations with the US for facilitating the civilian nuclear commerce with India is leading the Indian delegation to Cape Town to remove the fears of some countries in the NSG. The apprehension pertains to the proposed Indo-US nuclear deal leading to an arms race in South Asia.

The twin objectives of the Indian delegation's presence in Cape Town and its interface with officials of various countries of the NSG is to give an impetus to the slow-moving negotiations with regard to the 123 Agreement so that the critical deal goes through in keeping with the agreement reached between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George Bush on July 18, 2005, coupled with bringing to the fore the burgeoning energy needs of the country for maintaining the current pace of economic growth.

This assumes importance as the NSG operates by consensus and is the key factor in getting the global civilian nuclear commerce with India off the ground after decades of sanctions and isolation.

The meeting comes in the wake of reports in the US that the 123 Agreement is getting bogged down to India's insistence on its right to test nuclear device, if required, and transfer of reprocessing technologies. The reprocessing issue is because India does not want a repeat of Tarapur.

Jaishankar is expected to meet Richard Stratford, director of nuclear energy, safety and security in the US state department and whittle down the differences on the seemingly intractable issues aimed at ensuring that a viable 123 Agreement can pass the muster in US Congress and Parliament in this country.

Only last month, US assistant secretary for south and central asia Richard Boucher told the foreign relations committee that the Indo-US Agreement on cooperation in the civilian nuclear energy sphere will not fuel an arms race in South Asia. He said there will be a “standard bilateral agreement between India and the US that has provisions required by law to make sure that there is adequate legal basis for our cooperation”. He had no doubt that Congress will have a chance to look at the agreement and that the strategic relationship between the US and India will deepen and grow.