India, US may ink civil nuclear deal on Friday

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New Delhi, Oct 8: While the US President George W Bush is set to sign a bill to ratify the India-US civil nuclear deal, late on Wednesday, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee is getting ready to leave a day later to sign the 123 nuclear pact on Friday. The pact will reopen civil nuclear trade between the two countries after a gap of over three decades.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Mukherjee will formally ink the 123 civil nuclear co-operation agreement that will implement the landmark pact allowing trade in nuclear reactors, fuel and technologies between the two countries.

Earlier the pact was expected to be signed during Rice’s day-long visit, however, was put off as India insisted that it first wanted the US President to sign a bill to ratify the India-US civil nuclear deal and will also address some of India’s concerns on fuel guarantees in his presidential signing statement.

The White House has invited lawmakers, prominent members of the Indian-American community, and leading businessmen of the two countries, besides officials and diplomats, all of whom played a major role in pushing the deal, for the signing ceremony in Washington.

Bush is expected to seek to assuage India’s concerns about nuclear fuel assurances, technology transfers for uranium enrichment and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel with a signing statement as he did over certain ‘‘extraneous and prescriptive’’ provisions in the Hyde Act in December 2006.

After signing into law the legislation passed by Congress approving the 123 Agreement, the American leader is also required to certify that the accord is consistent with US obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).