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INDIA-US FOURTH ROUND OF TALKS

India Press Information Bureau - 08 August 1998

    The fourth round of talks between Inida and the united States scheduled here for August 24 and 25 is expeted to be crucial putting into "Sharper and better" focus their two-month-old dialogue on the divisive nuclear issue.

    The progress in the Washington round will determine whether U.S. President Bill Clinton will go ahead with his November visit to New Delhi which the U.S. has put on hold in protest against India's Nuclear Tests in May.

    India's Ambassador to the U.S. Naresh Chandra, who gave an indication to this effect here yesterday said Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Jaswant Singh would meet his American interlocutor, Deputy Secretary of State strobe talbott, on August 24, he would see officials of the pentagon and the energy department the next day.

    Meanwhile the united nations has fixed September 24 for Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee to address its general assembly. Though Delhi has yet not made a formal announcement, indications here are that he will find time to come to New York and address the world body-his first after assuming office.

    President Clinton is scheduled to address the general assembly on September 22. though, as of now, there is no programme for a Clinton-Vajpayee meeting, Mr. Naresh Chandra is of the opinion that such a possibility can not be ruled out.

    The Ambassador, who was present at the previous three rounds of the Indo-US talks held in Washington, frankfurt and New Delhi, appeared hopeful of the progress in the upcoming parleys the central idea of which is to mend their relations, unsettled after India's Nuclear Tests.

    Asked whether the two sides were moving towards reconciling their defferences, his reply was; "to a degree, yes." "The whole exercise of negotiations is to find a common ground which is more consistent with the present day situation and act on it," he remarked. He said that the talks centred on the two sets of issues: India's National Security and U.S. non-proliferation agenda and the economic sanctions and related issues.

    The Government of India has, as expected, ruled out any compromise on the national security issue. However, it feels that in a package solution, totality had to be taken into account, apparently leaving room for possible adjustments. At the last round in New Delhi, the two sides had agreed to put in writing their respective positions on these issues to form basis for further discussions and to reach an unhderstanding.