The Bush Administration has despatched a top envoy to Vienna to bolster support for the Indo-US civil nuclear deal tomorrow when India is due to brief the IAEA Board of Governors on the safeguards agreement.
William Burns, US undersecretary of state for political affairs, will be at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) enroute to Geneva for a weekend meeting over Iran's controversial nuclear programme.
"Friday, he's (Burns) going to have some consultations at the International Atomic Energy Agency, related to the nuclear deal," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters here.
"... I don't have many more details for you than that, that he is going to be in Vienna at the IAEA for some consultations on the civil nuclear deal...," he said of the trip by Burns, the third ranking American diplomat who succeeded Nick Burns, the US pointsman for the deal since it was conceived.
As the UPA Government braced for a trust vote on July 22 in the Lok Sabha, India yesterday said it has decided to scale down tomorrow's special briefing for the IAEA on the safeguards agreement and other aspects of Indo-US nuclear deal, confining it to its 35-member Board of Governors and NSG countries which are not part of the Board. Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon will be presenting India's case.
The IAEA has said its Board of Governors will meet on August 1 to discuss a draft safeguards agreement with India, necessary for the implementation of the deal.
In addition, India must obtain a waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG), a group of 45 states that export nuclear fuel and technology before it gets the approval of the US Congress
No comments:
Post a Comment