Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W. Bush yesterday announced an agreement on a landmark nuclear deal, a coup for Bush's first visit to India.
Under the accord, elusive until the last minute, the US would share its nuclear know-how and fuel with India to help power its fast-growing economy, even though India won't sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It would represent a major shift in policy for the US, which imposed temporary sanctions on India in 1998 after it conducted nuclear tests.
"We concluded an historic agreement today on nuclear power," Bush said. "It's not an easy job for the prime minister to achieve this agreement. I understand. It's not easy for the US president to achieve this agreement."
Bush, turning immediately toward selling the deal to skeptics in the US Congress, called it "a necessary agreement."
"It's one that will help both our peoples," he said.
Singh repeatedly thanked Bush for personally shepherding the deal.
"But for his leadership, this day probably would not have come so soon," Singh said.
Bush and Singh signed an agreement in July to provide India with nuclear fuel for the country's booming but energy-starved economy. But it hinged upon determining how to segregate India's nuclear weapons work from its commercial nuclear program, and place the latter under international inspection, in a way that satisfied both sides.
Some lawmakers in Washington contend that the Bush administration is essentially making a side deal to the international nonproliferation treaty. Critics in India, meanwhile, are wary that the US is meddling in Indian affairs, and is using India as a counterweight to China's growing economic and political influence.
The president acknowledged that convincing lawmakers would be difficult.
"Proliferation is certainly a concern and a part of our discussions and we've got a good-faith gesture by the Indian government that I'll be able to take to the Congress," Bush said.
"But the other thing that our Congress has got to understand that it's in our economic interests that India have a civilian nuclear power industry to help take the pressure off the global demand for energy. ... To the extent that we can reduce demand for fossil fuels, it will reduce the cost to the US consumer," he added.
Also acknowledging the deal falls outside the limits of traditional international agreements, Bush argued it was responsible and would not increase proliferation risks.
"What this agreement says is -- things change, times change, that leadership can make a difference ... So I'm trying to think differently, not stay stuck in the past," he said.
The frantic negotiations for the nuclear pact, coupled with protests planned throughout Bush's stay, reflected India's mixed feelings about the visit by the leader of the US -- a country seen as a loyal friend by some and a global bully by others.
Many business and government leaders of this nation of more than 1 billion people are eager to strengthen ties with the US.
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