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Indian PM hails IAEA's nod as milestone

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Aug 2, IRNA

India-IAEA's Nod-PM

Hailing IAEA's approval of India's specific safeguards agreement as historic, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said it was an important day for India and thanked the international community, especially the US and the UN energy agency chief for achieving the "milestone.

"I am delighted to hear that the IAEA Board of Governors decided on Friday, by consensus, to approve the India Specific Safeguards Agreement".

"This is an important day for India, and for our civil nuclear initiative for the resumption of India's cooperation with our friends abroad," Singh said Friday, who arrived in Colombo to attend the 15th SAARC Summit, said an official statement issued here.

The civil nuclear initiative is good for India and good for the world, the Prime Minister said, adding "as we move forward towards our goal of sustainable development and energy security, the peaceful uses of atomic energy will play an increasingly important role".

"I am grateful to the members of the IAEA Board of Governors, to our partners and friends abroad, and, in particular, to the USA, for making this important step in the IAEA possible".

Singh noted that IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei played "a significant role" and said India was looking forward to working with him and his Agency in implementing this agreement.

"I am deeply appreciative of the historic significance of this milestone in our cooperation with the IAEA and the international community in peaceful uses of atomic energy."

In a major boost to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, the 35 member IAEA board of Governors meeting in Vienna on Friday adopted the India specific safeguards agreement unanimously.

The agreement that will open India's 14 of the 22 existing and future nuclear reactors for inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog got the green signal from the 35-member Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) after a three-hour meeting.

With the landmark nuclear deal having passing the first international test, India still needs a waiver from the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for resumption of nuclear trade and approval by the US Congress before the deal can come into force.