By NNN-PTI,
Washington : The US presidential nominees today welcomed the NSG waiver to India, with Republican John McCain asking Congressional leaders to act “expeditiously” to pass the Indo-US nuclear deal and Democrat Barack Obama seeking its quick submission before lawmakers.
“I welcome the decision by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to lift the global ban on civilian nuclear trade with India,” McCain said in a statement in Virginia on Sunday
He said this step, which is critical to implementing the nuclear deal, represents “another building block in the partnership between our two countries”.
“Because the agreement will further involve India in the global nonproliferation regime, strengthen the ongoing transformation of US-India relations, and reduce India’s dependence on carbon-emitting energy sources, I supported it early on and without equivocation,” Senator McCain said.
Slamming his rival, he said “the same cannot be said of my opponent, who supported ‘poison pill’ amendments on the Senate floor that would have had the effect of killing this important agreement.” Now that the NSG has approved the waiver, “Congressional leaders should act expeditiously to pass the US-India nuclear agreement here at home,” he said.
From Chicago, Obama issued a statement calling the NSG approval a “positive development” and saying that he is looking forward to “reviewing” what the grouping has agreed in Vienna. Obama has also urged the Bush administration to submit the agreement “quickly” to the Congress.