The article was published in the Indian Pugwash Society's in-house newsletter Proliferation and Arms Control, Vol. 3, no. 7, July 2006, pp. 10-14.
The Plenary Session of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) that was held on 29 May 2006 in Rio de Janeiro is a crucial piece in the Indo-US nuclear deal that India and the United States are trying to piece together. The NSG’s acquiescence is crucial in order for the deal to materialise. However, each of the institutions is looking to the other player to make the first move. The NSG is looking for the US Congress to pass the required India-specific legislation before it makes a commitment. The US Congress wants that firstly, the two sides should iron out the differences that have arisen over the issue of future nuclear testing by India. And secondly, that India should move first and draw up safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA). The IAEA on its part wants the layout and designs of the civil-military separation to craft an India-specific inspection agreement.
The NSG Plenary was quite different from the earlier sessions held in March ’06 and October ’05, as for the first time the NSG members actually discussed the Indo-US nuclear deal unlike the March session at Vienna earlier this year where the nuclear deal was largely absent from discussions. The Rio Plenary was thus crucial for it gave both India and the US an opportunity to strengthen their position within the group and to garner more support for the deal.
The Indo-US combine did manage to do garner support from across the spectrum at the NSG meeting with only Sweden, Norway and Ireland being the three major hold outs. [1] Talking about the Rio session, the US ambassador to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, who attended most of the confidential consultations, termed the Rio meeting as "an important step forward" in putting the deal in a broader strategic context. Though, emphasising that there was no deadline, he said, "We would like to have a decision sooner rather than later." [2] This is of immense importance because of the fact that the Group works by consensus and there are a lot of hard questions that the US will still have to answer from various member countries.
The Plenary Session of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) that was held on 29 May 2006 in Rio de Janeiro is a crucial piece in the Indo-US nuclear deal that India and the United States are trying to piece together. The NSG’s acquiescence is crucial in order for the deal to materialise. However, each of the institutions is looking to the other player to make the first move. The NSG is looking for the US Congress to pass the required India-specific legislation before it makes a commitment. The US Congress wants that firstly, the two sides should iron out the differences that have arisen over the issue of future nuclear testing by India. And secondly, that India should move first and draw up safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA). The IAEA on its part wants the layout and designs of the civil-military separation to craft an India-specific inspection agreement.
The NSG Plenary was quite different from the earlier sessions held in March ’06 and October ’05, as for the first time the NSG members actually discussed the Indo-US nuclear deal unlike the March session at Vienna earlier this year where the nuclear deal was largely absent from discussions. The Rio Plenary was thus crucial for it gave both India and the US an opportunity to strengthen their position within the group and to garner more support for the deal.
The Indo-US combine did manage to do garner support from across the spectrum at the NSG meeting with only Sweden, Norway and Ireland being the three major hold outs. [1] Talking about the Rio session, the US ambassador to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, who attended most of the confidential consultations, termed the Rio meeting as "an important step forward" in putting the deal in a broader strategic context. Though, emphasising that there was no deadline, he said, "We would like to have a decision sooner rather than later." [2] This is of immense importance because of the fact that the Group works by consensus and there are a lot of hard questions that the US will still have to answer from various member countries.