A move towards commercialising nuclear pact

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama on Sunday reached an understanding that will take the civil nuclear co-operation agreement signed between the two countries, stuck for the past six years, towards commercial implementation.

The US has also agreed to support India in getting full membership in four international export control regimes, at the earliest. These are exclusive clubs or groups where the US has an upper hand.

One of the groups is of nuclear suppliers.

Obama said two issues relating to the civil nuclear cooperation have been resolved.

The two leaders set the tone of an administrative agreement, which will broadly be based on the lines of the one India has with Canada.

The US has agreed to drop its demand for tracking India’s usage of nuclear fuel and equipment.

The US will go only by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspections.

The two countries have also reached an understanding on creation of a ₹750-crore insurance pool (India’s General Insurance and four other public sector undertakings will create the account) that would circumvent the liability clause.

This will be similar to 26 such other existing pools globally.

“The civil nuclear agreement was the centrepiece of our transformed relationship… I am pleased that six years after we signed our bilateral agreement, we are moving towards commercial cooperation, consistent with our law, our international obligations and technical and commercial viability,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during the joint press interaction with Obama.

Industry trackers are terming it a ‘big breakthrough’.

While American companies were wary of the liability clause, Indians were worried about Australia’s position if the US declined to drop its demand.

India has signed civil nuclear cooperation agreements with Australia, France, Namibia, Argentina, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Canada, the UK and South Korea.

While India has been importing from Kazakhstan and Russia, other countries have had their eyes on the commericalisation of India’s pact with US before moving forward with their own bilateral nuclear agreements.