Singh's New Govt to Accord Top Priority to Indo-US N-Deal - By Dev Varam

India's nuclear deal with the United States (US) has received a shot in the arm with the return of a Congress Party-led Government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to power following the recent elections in the country.

Singh, the architect of the deal along with the then US President George Bush, staked his reputation on the issue and won a bitterly- fought vote of confidence for his government in Indian parliament earlier and the elections that followed. In the US too, both the Congress and the House of Representatives approved the deal.

Now, with the opposition, mainly the Communists off his back following their defeat in the elections, Singh is all set to take the deal forward with much more vigour, opening further opportunities for nuclear commerce between India and the US. Indian requirements are estimated to involve an investment of around $150 billion in the years to come, providing enormous avenues for the involvement of the US companies in building nuclear power reactors in this country.

The US on its part had ensured that the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) waived the three-decade long sanctions on India imposed on this country for testing an atom bomb. The NSG waver which came in September 2008, allowed India to sign civilian nuclear energy cooperation deals with three other countries, France, Russia and Kazakhstan, apart from the US.

Now, India has assured the nuclear and allied industries in the US that the India-US civil nuclear deal is very high on the priority of the new government and it would very much like to move forward on it.

Noting that the US did the "heavy hitting" in getting the nuclear deal through, Indian Ambassador in Washington Meera Shankar told the US-India Business Council (USIBC) on 21 May 2009 that India was keen on commercial deals with US manufacturers for building nuclear reactors.

To facilitate the process, New Delhi was looking at speeding up negotiations on arrangements to give effect to India's right to reprocess US origin spent fuel and wanted to pursue this vigorously.

New Delhi was also looking at expediting joining the international nuclear liability convention, another issue of concern for US nuclear suppliers, she said.

On its side, flowing from the nuclear deal, India wanted a liberalization of export procedures for high technology goods and services to make them more facilitative to trade instead of restrictive, she said noting that the US was the single largest source for technical collaboration in India.

Noting that India no longer has a problem with the credibility of reforms, Shankar hoped that the US companies will take advantage of the enormous potential of cooperation and take their business relationship to the next level.

"If ever there was a time to raise the US-India profile, this is our moment!" USIBC President Ron Somers said greeting the ambassador.

"The astonishing electoral outcome in India provides a rare opportunity for USIBC - as the premier business advocacy association promoting deeper US-India ties - to awaken the Obama Administration and India to the absolute excitement which was so perfectly expressed last week by the people of India," he said.

"With a new government in India now in formation, and the Obama administration presently staffing key posts that will shape US-India engagement for the long future, our companies have much at stake to make certain that momentum is regained, our trajectory is pointed ever-upward, and our countries are united against petty backsliding and protectionism," Somers said.

USIBC, formed in 1975 to deepen trade and strengthen commercial ties between the two countries has a membership of 300 companies, representing the top companies investing in India joined by Indian global companies.