Washington: Hoping that the historic nuclear deal would soon be approved by the US Congress, India has said that concerns raised by some about non-proliferation were not "very credible" and should not prevent anyone from endorsing the pact.
"We really appreciate the fact that President Bush has taken strong action. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's testimony before Congress is a very strong affirmation of the deal and the need for the deal and the fact that it is good for the US, it is good for India," Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said at a media event at the Indian Embassy.
"We hope the deal will go through Congress. I am not surprised there are non-proliferation concerns. But from our point of view, I don't think those concerns should prevent anybody from endorsing the deal," he added.
The fact is that India has "an impeccable record" on non-proliferation and "the biggest source of proliferation have been other countries, many of whom are signatories to the NPT, " he said.
"So the notion that you can't do something for India because India is not a signatory to the NPT and this is because you are concerned about non-proliferation, I don't think it is a very credible argument," he added.
"It's a deal that makes a big difference to India's search for energy. It will help us in fact hugely expand nuclear power generation capacity," he said.
"From the US' point of view it will prevent us from putting pressure on fossil fuels which is good for the US, reduce our dependance on carbon, on coal which is good from the environmental point of view," he added.
"And I think it will also open up technology flows and other from other countries to India including the US, I have seen a lot of support for it," Ahluwalia said.
"US business interests strongly support it and I am sure Congress will look at all these considerations but it is not proper for me to second guess what is going to happen, but I am hoping we are getting an approval very soon," he said.
Alhuwalia also said that the N-deal has received a lot of attention in India and is widely seen to be emblematic of a tranformed relationship and to that extent when the deal is approved by Congress it will definitely generate extremely positive reaction in India in favour of more cooperation with the
United States, which is good," he remarked.
The Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission said that he has not had any indications of a postponement in
Congressional action until after the November elections.
"In all the meetings I have had, I have conveyed that we appreciate the speed with which decisions have been taken, to take it to Congress and we hope it will be done soon. We are assured that the administration is working to that objective," Ahluwalia said.
Comments
0 comment