19 September 2008
Officials Urge Congress to Approve U.S.-India Nuclear Accord
Pact would mark major step in strengthening ties, says State’s Burns
Washington — Congress must act quickly to approve a forward-looking civil nuclear cooperation deal with India that will allow future leaders to continue a historic transformation in relations between Washington and New Delhi, say top U.S. officials.
“We believe the time is now for Congress to move forward on the 123 Agreement,” Under Secretary of State William Burns told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee September 18. “It's important that we leave the next American president and Indian prime minister a platform on which they can build.”
Burns, who is under secretary for political affairs, was joined by John Rood, the under secretary of state for arms control and international security, to urge lawmakers to support the U.S.-India Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation, also known as a 123 Agreement — an effort to reverse three decades of U.S. policy by permitting the shipment of nuclear fuel to India in return for international inspections of India's civilian reactors.
If approved, Burns said, the civil nuclear agreement would represent the culmination of intensive diplomacy dating back to 2000, when then-President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee signed the Historic Vision Document, which charted a new course in relations and set the stage for President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s 2005 civil nuclear initiative.
The United States and India completed negotiations on the 123 Agreement in 2007, but Congress required a safeguard agreement from the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a separate agreement from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group before it would consider final action due to India’s unique status outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
Despite bipartisan support, passage in this session of Congress is uncertain, as lawmakers prepare to adjourn in late September to campaign for the November elections. While Bush transmitted the proposed civil nuclear deal to Congress September 1 following approvals from both international bodies, Congress legally may take up to 30 working days to study, consider and vote on an international agreement received from the White House. (See “President Bush Sends U.S.-India Nuclear Accord to Congress.”)
“The United States goes to the polls in seven weeks. India must hold an election within six months of that,” Burns said. “U.S.-India relations have gone through recurring cycles of euphoria and disappointment, ups and downs, highs and lows. Now we're on an upward swing and so we need to capture that momentum, locking in the very significant gains that have been achieved in recent years.”
The 123 Agreement reflects India’s emergence on the global stage and an abiding U.S. interest in building a new partnership with the world’s largest democracy, Burns said. Expanded partnerships between U.S. and Indian nuclear power companies also could help create up to 20,000 new jobs in the United States.
India’s growing population and demand for energy gives the United States interest in encouraging nuclear energy as a clean alternative to coal, Burns said. More use of coal could turn the South Asian nation into a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. “Its decision to rely in part on clean and efficient nuclear energy positively affects our own environmental future.”
While India remains outside the NPT framework, the 123 Agreement also will advance America’s interest in bringing New Delhi into the international nonproliferation mainstream, said Rood.
Under the 123 Agreement, India must separate its military and civilian activities and submit its entire civil program to international inspection. India will place under voluntary safeguards a majority of its existing and planned nuclear power reactors — 14 of 22 — and all its future civil reactors. It is estimated that within a generation nearly 90 percent of India's reactors will be under IAEA safeguards.
Each civilian facility placed under IAEA safeguards will not be available to contribute to nuclear weapons programs, Rood said, while new business opportunities available under the 123 Agreement create a powerful inventive to create as many civilian facilities as possible.
“We look to the rise of India as an opportunity, not just to share the benefits of the international system, but also the burdens and responsibilities of maintaining, strengthening and defending it,” Burns said. “Two administrations, in both countries, have sought to embrace that opportunity. We believe this initiative helps to do so, and thus that it will shape the 21st Century for the better.”
