New Delhi:

The United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who is on a two-day trip to India, said on Monday that the federal government in Washington is finalising necessary steps to remove barriers in India-United States civil nuclear cooperation to give fresh momentum to a landmark deal between the two countries.

“United States is now finalising the necessary steps to remove long-standing regulations that have prevented civil nuclear cooperation between India’s leading nuclear entities and US companies,” Mr Sullivan said in New Delhi on Monday.

New Delhi and Washington have been discussing the supply of US nuclear reactors to India since the mid-2000s.

The civil nuclear deal was signed in 2007 by then-President George W Bush, a major step toward allowing the United States to sell civilian nuclear technology to India. The two countries agreed in 2019 to build six US nuclear power plants in India.

However, a longstanding obstacle in the corporation has been the need to bring Indian liability rules in line with global norms which require the costs of any accident to be channelled to the operator rather than the maker of a nuclear power plant.

India’s strict nuclear compensation laws have previously discouraged foreign power plant builders from cooperating with New Delhi, subsequently deferring its target to add 20,000 MW of nuclear power from 2020 to 2030.

Jake Sullivan is on a two-day visit to New Delhi, days before President-elect Donald Trump is due to be sworn in. His trip was the last high-profile visit to New Delhi by the outgoing Biden administration.

Washington expected the impact of Chinese upstream dams, artificial intelligence, space, military licensing and Chinese economic overcapacity to be discussed while Sullivan is in New Delhi, a US official told news agency Reuters. 

Earlier in the day, Mr Sullivan met India’s Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar in Delhi and discussed enhancing bilateral, regional and global cooperation.

After the meeting, Mr Jaishankar acknowledged Mr Sullivan’s “personal contribution” in strengthening the India-US partnership over the past four years.

“Delighted to meet US NSA @JakeSullivan46 in New Delhi today morning. Continued our ongoing discussions on deepening bilateral, regional and global cooperation. Valued the openness of our conversations in the last four years. Appreciated his personal contribution to forging a closer and stronger India-US partnership,” he wrote in a post on X ( previously Twitter)

New Delhi:

India’s epochal civil nuclear agreement with the United States in 2008 will remain a crowning glory for Manmohan Singh’s prime ministership in the foreign policy domain as it not only ended the country’s nuclear apartheid but created a favourable geopolitical configuration.

Dr Singh, the then prime minister, was so convinced about the futuristic outcomes of the historic deal he showed steely determination to push it strongly though the survival of his government was at stake during a no-confidence vote in Parliament.

The civil nuclear deal changed India’s overall engagement with the US as it paved the way for building the bonds of a strategic partnership, especially in areas of high-technology and defence.

In July 2005, India and the US announced that they would cooperate in civil nuclear energy following Dr Singh’s talks with then American President George W Bush.

In an address at a joint session of the US Congress on July 19, Dr Singh elaborated on the need for India-US collaboration in the civil nuclear energy sector and explained New Delhi’s impeccable record in nuclear non-proliferation.

“We have adhered scrupulously to every rule and canon in this area. We have done so even though we have witnessed unchecked nuclear proliferation in our own neighbourhood which has directly affected our security interests,” he had said.

“This is because India, as a responsible nuclear power, is fully conscious of the immense responsibilities that come with the possession of advanced technologies, both civilian and strategic,” Dr Singh said.

“We have never been, and will never be, a source of proliferation of sensitive technologies,” he said.

Following a series of negotiations, the IAEA approved the safeguards agreement with India on August 1, 2008 following which the US approached the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to grant a waiver to New Delhi to commence civilian nuclear trade.

The NSG granted the waiver to India on September 6, 2008, allowing it to access civilian nuclear technology and fuel from other countries.

The agreement was signed by then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice, on October 10.

Following the deal, India’s overall strategic cooperation with the US witnessed a major upswing.

Dr Singh’s tenure as the prime minister in the first UPA government also saw better relations between India and Pakistan, a phase that began in 2004 with then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the helm.

However, it changed following the terror attack in Mumbai in November 2008.

Dr Singh died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi on Thursday. He was 92.  

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)