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Nuke deal likely to figure at Indian PM-US president talks

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, July 10, IRNA
India-US-Nuke Deal
Early accomplishment of the path-breaking Indo-US nuclear agreement is expected to come up during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting with US President George Bush on the margins of the G-8 summit of industrialized nations in St Petersburg next week.

Singh, who will leave on a three-day visit for the Russian city on July 16, is likely to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders who will be discussing global energy security, Doordarshan News said here.

The program of Singh, who has a heavy agenda, is still being fine -tuned, officials in New Delhi said.

The Singh-Bush interaction will come close on the heels of the US House of Representatives' International Relations Committee and the senate foreign relations committee giving their nod to the July 18 agreement which would pave the way for nuclear supplies to Indian reactors.

India and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had on Sunday held 'productive' talks on the proposed safeguards agreement that is required to be put in place to allow international community to resume nuclear trade with New Delhi.

The discussions between officials focused on various aspects, including legal provisions and technical details that should form part of the India-specific agreement.

The two delegations also talked about the monitoring mechanism that should be in place with regard to 14 Indian civilian nuclear reactors identified by India under the separation plan of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

During the summit, the G-8 leaders are expected to make efforts to break the deadlock over the Doha Round of WTO negotiations.

The recent round of negotiations in Geneva ended in a logjam over the issue of industrialized nations cutting domestic subsidy for agriculture and developing nations reducing tariff on industrial goods.

Apart from India, leaders from China, Brazil, South Africa and the European Union are the special invitees who would be attending the 'outreach meeting' with G-8 leaders.

Iran's nuclear program, education, disease prevention and a massive expansion of nuclear power generation in member-countries are on the agenda of the summit.

An action plan for global energy security, envisaging a network of nuclear power plants in group countries and sale of reactors to developing countries, is also likely to be drawn up at the summit.

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