By Prensa Latina,
New Delhi : India and the United States finally signed in Washington a controversial nuclear agreement after three years of negotiations and heated political debates in each nation, reported the Indian press.
The agreement was signed on Friday in Washington by the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Back in New Delhi, Mukherjee said his government signed the Agreement 123 of the nuclear pact with the United States but not the Hyde Agreement also included in that treaty.
To soothe the critics of both the left-wing and the right, the foreign minister said he is satisfied with the guarantees of nuclear fuel supply included in the Agreement 123 and given in a statement by US President George W. Bush.
Both the Left Front and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party have declared that the agreement is detrimental to Indian sovereignty because it will be conditioned by the Hyde Agreement, a US regulation.
This is the second treaty signed by India and the United States since the Group of Nuclear Suppliers backed the Indian share in nuclear international market on September 6.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed a similar agreement with his French peer Nicolas Sarkozy and plans to sign another with Russia by the end of 2008.