Indian PM to make statement on Indo-US N-deal in Parliament
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New Delhi, Feb 22, IRNA
India-Nuclear-PM
Two days ahead of the landmark visit of US President George W Bush to India, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make a statement on the Indo-US nuclear deal in Parliament on February 27.
Singh will make the statement in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters here Wednesday.
Dasmunsi said both the houses would take up discussion on the Iran issue tomorrow, but was not certain whether the prime minister would reply tomorrow.
He said the debate would be taken up in the Lok Sabha after prime minister's reply on discussion on the motion of thanks to the president for his address. Singh will reply after the Leader of the Opposition L K Advani participates in the discussion.
With both countries (India-US) keen to wrap up an agreement in the run-up to Bush's visit, US Under Secretary of State Nicolas Burns will be holding talks with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran here tomorrow.
Burns, chief negotiator on the deal, which was reached between Singh and Bush during the prime minister's visit to Washington in July last year, said on the eve of his visit here that 90 percent of the agreement has already been worked out.
The negotiations for the agreement faced difficulties on India's plan to separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities.
Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar, who played a key role in the July deal, had made it clear that placing country's fast breeder reactor program under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards would not be in India's national interest.
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