By IANS
Mumbai : Even as the Left parties continued their pressure on the government against going ahead with the India-US civil nuclear deal, Mohamed ElBaradei, chief of the UN nuclear watchdog, Tuesday said he will wait for a formal request from the Indian government to the IAEA before negotiations can begin on a safeguards agreement.
“We are ready for talks when they (Indian government) approach us,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief told reporters here.
“The Indian side will approach me for talks when they decide to. It is a government’s decision. I will wait for them to come to Vienna to make a formal request,” said ElBaradei, a strong supporter of the India-US nuclear deal.
Asked about his expectations from the negotiations, he said: “I have always had fruitful talks with the government of India.”
He was talking to media persons after visiting the Tata Memorial Centre’s Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) in Navi Mumbai, where he was handed over an indigenously designed cancer teletherapy machine called Bhabhatron II.
The IAEA plans to send the machine, showcasing India’s innovations in peaceful uses of nuclear energy, to Vietnam as a goodwill gesture.
“All developing countries need to invest in science and technology and India is one such country which has made a great leap in improving the living standards of its people,” the IAEA chief told scientists and cancer specialists at the ACTREC earlier.
“We must put nuclear energy into good and proper use. India has been a good partner of the IAEA in our efforts in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and continues to be so.”
“It has also been a major supporter in our efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons,” he stressed.
“India is one of the major countries, and continues to be, in the uses of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,” ElBaradei said.
“The Bhabhatron is a gift from India to the people of Vietnam. And I am happy to receive this most advanced cancer therapy machine on behalf of the people of Vietnam,” he said.
ElBaradei met Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar and discussed with him the ongoing cooperation between India and the IAEA in the area of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
Earlier, Kakodkar said that the Bhabahatron-II, the second and the latest version of the machine, was a gift promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Vienna last year.
“Last year at the time of the IAEA conference, the prime minister had asked me to announce about gifting the machine and today we are proud to be making some contribution to the betterment of mankind,” Kakodkar said.
ElBaradei began his four-day visit late Monday.
Kakodkar also accompanied ElBaradei to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Anushakti Nagar on the outskirts of the city. ElBaradei inspected the BARC facility and had lunch with nuclear scientists.
Officials were, however, tight-lipped on negotiations on India-specific safeguards with the IAEA that have become a make-or-break issue between the ruling coalition and its Left allies.
“Though the visit to the Mumbai facilities is very technical in nature, the trip comes ahead of an informal October-end deadline for India to clinch negotiations with the IAEA,” a senior official of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) said.
The IAEA chief will be in New Delhi Wednesday and may go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will call on him during his stay in the capital.
The prime minister has invited ElBaradei for lunch at his 7, Race Course, residence on Thursday, the DAE official said.
The government – alive to the sensitivities of the Left parties, which have categorically rejected any negotiation with the IAEA – has repeatedly stressed that it has not yet started formal negotiations with the IAEA.
The ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Left held a fourth meeting of their panel on the nuclear deal Tuesday, with the Manmohan Singh government getting a 13-day breather as discussions remained inconclusive.