India to decide on Iran issue at IAEA on merits
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New Delhi, March 1, IRNA
India-Iran-Vote
India's stand at the next meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the Iran nuclear issue will be determined by the content of the resolution adopted at the March 6 meeting of the nuclear watchdog.
"It will be determined by the content of the resolution. Let's wait for the report...We will judge it by its merits," Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said at a press conference here.
He was replying to a question on India's stand at the next meeting of the IAEA. The press conference was held to announce the visit of US President George Bush to India.
Saran ruled out pulling out of the multi-billion dollar Iran- Pakistan-India gas pipelne project, saying there was "no intention of dropping out" of the project.
To a question on Pakistan, Saran said New Delhi's position was very clear that Jammu and Kashmir "is an integral part of India." The issue was already being addressed domestically as well as with Pakistan in the composite dialogue process.
He said if the matter was raised with President Bush during meetings with Indian leaders, the US would be apprised of India's position.
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over telephone and said the two countries needed to work hard to implement the civil nuclear deal as they were "close" to it and anticipating President George W Bush's visit here.
During the conversation, Rice said "we are close" to implementing the deal with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran saying negotiators of the two countries needed to "work hard" to finish the talks.
The conversation then shifted to how President Bush and Rice looked forward to the visit with "great anticipation and
expectation," Saran said.
Rice is accompanying Bush in his three-day visit to India which begins today.
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