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123 Agreement
Indo-US talks from today
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 30
US under secretary for political affairs Nicholas Burns is coming here tomorrow on a three-day official visit to explore if his negotiations on the 123 agreement could yield a deal before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W Bush meet in Germany less than 10 days later.

Burns’ talks with his Indian counterparts, led by foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon, are being viewed as crucial before the two principals, Singh and Bush, meet on the sidelines of the G8 summit. It is understood that Burns’ talks here are going to be as politically loaded as complex and technical in character. The two governments today reacted to Burns’ visit differently, but guardedly.

The Ministry of External Affairs sought to convey that Burns’ discussions here would not focus on the nuclear deal alone. The MEA said in a brief statement “Burns will review bilateral relations and developments of mutual interest with the foreign secretary. The visit will also be the occasion for further discussions on the proposed bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement.” The key word in this statement is “also”.

The US statement talks of “considerable work” which was yet to be done - a far cry from a statement of Burns himself last week that 90 per cent of the work had already been done by the USA and India. On the eve of the talks US Ambassador here, David C Mulford said, "There is considerable work to be done on what is a very technical and detailed agreement. We want to finish as soon as we can and both sides are positive we can do this."

Four plus one issues

The Burns-Menon talks are expected to revolve around four plus one issues: Indian rights for reprocessing spent fuel, further nuclear testing by India, the issue of uninterrupted fuel supplies from the USA to India and whether New Delhi will have to return all material to the US in the event of fresh nuclear tests by India.

India has made it clear to the USA that it was not in a position to compromise on all these four issues. All these issues came up at the technical talks between India and the USA in London recently.

Besides, another issue from the Indian point of view is New Delhi’s concern whether the 123 agreement will entail any intrusive inspections from Americans or others into Indian facilities.

The Americans have been sounded that all these four-plus-one issues could be a potential deal-breaker and India could not compromise on any of these. Burns, it may be recalled, had recently stressed the need for “compromises” from both sides.

India is also wary of the fact that the 123 agreement does not become a replica of the Hyde Act. That is because India had nothing to do with the Hyde Act, as it was an American legislative process and requirement. The 123 agreement, on the other hand, is a bilateral document and India would not tolerate objectionable references of the Hyde Act, such as the Iran issue, finding a mention in it.