By IANS,
Washington : President George W. Bush has asked the US Congress to approve the India-US civil nuclear deal, noting that New Delhi has harmonised and adhered to the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) and Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) guidelines.
“The president has notified Congress as required under the Hyde Act of 2006 that India has harmonised and has adhered to in accordance with the procedures of those regimes for unilateral adherence,” a State Department spokesperson said Thursday.
Responding to a question about India’s adherence to the NSG and MTCR guidelines, the spokesperson noted that India’s Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee had in a statement issued Sep 5 reinforced India’s commitments made in the July 2005 joint statement of Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Under the July 18, 2005 joint statement, which launched the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative, India committed to harmonise its export controls with, and unilaterally adhere to the NSG and MTCR guidelines.
Mukherjee’s statement underscored that “India has taken the necessary steps to secure nuclear materials and technology through comprehensive export control legislation and through harmonisation and committing to adhere to MTCR and NSG guidelines”.
“We also understand that India has sent letters to the International Atomic Energy Agency director general and to the MTCR point of contact in Paris stating that it has adhered to the NSG and MTCR. We welcome these steps,” the State Department spokesperson said.