By Arun Kumar,IANS,
Washington : Ahead of his upcoming summit with President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed the hope that the the US will be “more liberal” in transferring technologies to India to make their landmark civil nuclear fully operational.
“We have a landmark agreement with the US on nuclear cooperation. We would like to operationalise it and ensure that the objectives for the nuclear deal are realised in full,” he said in an interview with Newsweek-Washington Post in New Delhi.
“My hope is that we can persuade the US administration to be more liberal when it comes to transferring technologies to us,” he said in the interview to be published Sunday, the day he lands in Washington.
“The restrictions make no sense. India has an impeccable record of not participating in any proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” Manmohan Singh said.
“So that’s my number one concern,” he said making clear that that nuclear cooperation would be high on his agenda when he meets Obama Nov 24 as the first state visitor to the White House.
Asked what he would like to accomplish in Washington, Manmohan Singh said: “We are strategic partners. We have good relations. But there is a new administration in America. So it is appropriate that I should renew our partnership.”
Outlining the areas of future cooperation, the prime minister said India and the United States “could be partners in refocusing our attention on an equitable, balanced global order.”
“We would like to strengthen energy cooperation with the United States – [in] clean coal technology and in renewable energy resources.”
“Similarly, there is concern for food security. We would like to have a second Green Revolution in our country – therefore, cooperation in the field of agriculture, in science and technology, in health, and in dealing with pandemics,” he said.