By Manish Chand, IANS,
Washington : Looking beyond differences in approach, India and the US Tuesday agreed to partner each other in global non-proliferation efforts which will be in focus when Prime Minister Manhmohan Singh goes to Washington for a nuclear security summit next year.
After his wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, US President Barack Obama Tuesday welcomed India’s support for his non-proliferation and disarmament agenda and said he looked forward to New Delhi’s participation in the nuclear security summit next year.
“I welcomed prime minister’s support for the non-proliferation agenda that I laid out in Prague,” Obama said while assuring India about his commitment for an early and full implementation of the path-breaking nuclear deal.
“I look forward to India’s participation in our nuclear security summit next year, as well as India’s participation as a full partner in our shared vision of a world without nuclear weapons,” he said.
The nuclear security summit, planned for April in Washington, will focus on securing nuclear materials and combating atomic smuggling.
“India welcomes the renewed international interest in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. We have been a consistent advocate of a world free of nuclear weapons,” Manmohan Singh.
We will work with the US and other countries for the success of the Nuclear Security Summit which President Obama is hosting next year,” Manmohan Singh said.
The Obama administration has an activist agenda on non-proliferation and has prioritised an early ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
India sharply differs with the US on this issue and has made it clear that it will not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and CTBT as it sees them as discriminatory treaties that divide the world into the nuclear haves and have-nots.