By IANS
New Delhi : The government may have been tight-lipped about talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei Thursday, but it is confident of wrapping up the safeguards negotiations with the IAEA “within a week to 10 days” once it decides to do so.
Manmohan Singh told ElBaradei during the meeting lasting over an hour that New Delhi would take a political call on beginning negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) after exploring all possible efforts to bring the Left on board, an official source said.
But once it decides to go ahead with the negotiations, it will not take more than seven to 10 days to complete India-specific safeguards negotiations with the IAEA, a highly placed official source told IANS.
The government’s confidence about wrapping up safeguards negotiations is based on the detailed groundwork it has already done in this direction and its past history of concluding safeguards agreements for four civil nuclear reactors.
Non-papers on safeguards negotiations have already been exchanged between the two sides.
The government’s decision to start negotiations with the IAEA will, however, have to wait till the next meeting of the ruling coalition with its Left allies, scheduled for Oct 22, which will closely examine the impact of the nuclear deal on India’s foreign policy.
Fully aware of the sensitivity of the Left parties’ concerns, Manmohan Singh, however, made it clear to ElBaradei that his government may have to wait for a while before taking a decision on starting crucial negotiations with the IAEA.
Manmohan Singh and ElBaradei discussed an entire range of issues relating to the global non-proliferation scene, including the nature of the Iranian nuclear programme and the inter-Korea summit meeting to resolve the nuclear imbroglio relating to Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.
ElBaradei, a staunch supporter of the India-US nuclear deal, appreciated the government’s compulsions behind its circumspect attitude towards the IAEA negotiations, but conveyed to the prime minister that clinching a safeguards agreement would not be difficult given the earlier agreement with the UN nuclear agency for four of India’s civil nuclear reactors.
He also left it to the prime minister to decide the timing of the negotiations with the IAEA, saying he would wait for the political dust to settle down before India approaches the UN agency for the India-specific safeguards agreement for its civil nuclear reactors.
India needs to clinch safeguards agreement with the IAEA in another month’s time so that the US can press the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for rule change to clear global nuclear commerce with New Delhi.
With the Congress’ leading allies within the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and DMK, making it clear that they don’t want an early election on the issue of the nuclear deal, the government may opt for survival rather than risk its existence.
The Left parties have pushed the government into a corner over the safeguards negotiations with the IAEA and warned they may withdraw support to it if it went ahead with operationalising the nuclear deal.
The prospect of an early election next year, in the event of the Left combine withdrawing support, has forced the government to put on hold negotiations, at least until the next UPA-Left meeting Oct 22.
But even as the fate of the nuclear deal hangs in balance, the government has found in the IAEA chief an impassioned advocate in its quest for global civil nuclear cooperation.
After meeting External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday, ElBaradei made a strong pitch for the nuclear deal, saying it would help India in sustaining its high economic growth and enable the country to become an “equal partner” in the global nuclear order.
“There is no deadline. When India is ready for the safeguards agreement, we’ll negotiate,” he said.
“As a friend of India, I would like to see India making full use of nuclear energy to enable it to sustain its 10 percent growth rate,” said ElBaradei, who began a four-day visit from Mumbai Monday.
The removal of nuclear trade restrictions “would be a major step towards regularizing the relationship between India and the international community in nuclear trade”, he had said.
ElBaradei had also stressed that the path-breaking nuclear deal would make India not only a recipient but also a supplier of nuclear technology in the new global nuclear order.