Highlighting the importance of ending India’s isolation from the nuclear community, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohammad ElBaradei on Friday said that this would not only benefit India as it would give it access to fuel and technology, but getting India into the nuclear “mainstream” was important for the global efforts towards eliminating all nuclear weapons.

Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit, ElBaradei said that Indo-US nuclear deal would just be a “trigger” to “liberate (India) from the restrictions of the 45 (Nuclear Suppliers Group) countries”.

While ElBaradei stayed away from commenting on the current political stalemate on the nuclear deal, he said that he was concerned about the “end” and not the “means” by which India comes out of the isolation it faces from the NSG. When asked about the importance attached to nuclear energy, ElBaradei said India needs access to all forms of energy, including nuclear energy, failing which it “cannot sustain 9 per cent growth”.

He said that at present share of nuclear power in India is a low 2 per cent while in some of the larger economies such as France, this share is 78 per cent, or for that matter US, Switzerland it is 20 per cent. For a country like India, he said, this share has to go up.

ElBaradei said that nuclear energy is important keeping in mind the high global fuel prices as well as for tackling climate change issues. Added to this, once NSG is also board, India will have access to state-of-the-art technology.

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