US, India reach agreement on nuke deal
(Agencies)
Updated: 2006-03-02 15:16

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday that his country reached agreement on a landmark nuclear deal with the United States, a coup for President Bush's first visit to India.

US President George W. Bush, left, and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh share a light moment, after Bushs arrival in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, March 1, 2006. US President George W. Bush arrived in India on Wednesday as talks on a landmark US-Indian nuclear pact were down to the wire and tens of thousands of Indians rallied in New Delhi to protest his visit. [AP]

"We have reached an understanding on the implementation of our agreement on civil nuclear cooperation," Singh said during a joint appearance by the two leaders. "I have conveyed to the president that India has finalized the identification of civilian facilities to which we had committed."

Under the accord, the United States would share American nuclear know-how and fuel with India to help power its fast-growing economy, even though India won't sign the international nonproliferation treaty. It would represent a major shift in policy for the United States, 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 American president to achieve this agreement."

Bush, mindful of opposition among some in the US Congress to such a deal, called it "a necessary agreement."

"It's one that will help both our peoples," he said. "Again, I applaud you for your courage and your leadership."

Later in the week, Bush was heading to Pakistan where on Thursday two bombs ripped through the parking lot of the Marriott Hotel in Karachi, exploding windows in the nearby US consulate. Bush said he had been briefed on the bombing and been told that the victims included at least one US citizen, a foreign service officer he did not identify by name.

The attack occurred hundreds of miles from Islamabad, where Bush's events were taking place, but underscored the need for the extraordinary security planned for his visit there.

Bush said the attack would not deter him in his travels.

"Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to Pakistan," he said.

Reaching the nuclear deal hinged upon determining how to segregate India's nuclear weapons work from its commercial nuclear program, and place the later 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 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Critics in India, meanwhile, are wary that the United States is meddling in Indian affairs, and is using India as a counterweight to China's growing economic and political influence.

The president said he would work with the Congress to change decades of law that have penalized countries like India for developing nuclear weapons, and 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 extend that we can reduce demand for fossil fuels, it will reduce the cost to the American consumer."

Singh repeatedly thanked Bush for personally helping to reach the agreement.

"But for his leadership, this day probably would not have come so soon," Singh said.