If you haven’t been paying the closest attention to developments on the India nuclear deal, don’t worry, it’s still almost not quite but closer kind of getting there.
Reuters reports on the latest unspecified disputes in negotiations over the 123 Agreement:
There has been some backsliding on the landmark US-India nuclear agreement and both sides must compromise in order to close the gaps, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said on Wednesday.
[snip]
Burns acknowledged completing the deal has been tougher than anticipated.
[snip]
US and Indian technical experts made little progress when they met in London this week in another attempt to work through persistent differences.
On May 1, the two countries claimed extensive progress during two days of talks in Washington aimed at salvaging their landmark deal.
But they soon ran into new snags, Burns postponed his New Delhi trip, and technical experts were sent to London for talks this week.
Speaking at the Heritage Foundation on May 23, Burns said that they were almost there. (Looks like the intersting stuff was in Q&A, since its not in his prepared remarks for this talk.)
[Burns] said he would be travelling to India in the next week or two for the “final effort” on the 123 agreement. “We have made enormous progress… We are 90 per cent there… In the next few weeks, we can see a major effort,” he said.
At least some of the delays are due to India’s concern over the Hyde Act (full text) which allows for nuclear cooperation but also has what for India are very troubling provisions. A number of issues in dispute have been described often in the press (such as here and here) with the nuclear testing issue being the most prominent. ( The Hindu had an good article outlining the issues from an Indian perspective.)
- US would suspend nuclear cooperation if India violate its voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing. The US could also demand that India return all purchased equipment if they test;
- India insists on being allowed to reprocess spent fuel;
- India does not want enrichment, heavy water and reprocessing technology excluded from the cooperation;
- question over uniterrupted fuel supply and reserves.
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Speaking of India, I will be on the India delegation at an arms control simulation with Russian college students next week, taking place this sweet location. When I last played this a few years back, spies hacked my delegations’s security system (aka hotmail) and threatened nuclear war. Should be a fun time!