Addressing a conference on “Business in and between India and the US-Legal and Regulatory Framework” here, Mukherjee pointed that out the observers of the India-US relationship, especially in the last two years, had devoted a significant portion of their time to the “landmark Indo-US nuclear understanding.”

“We remain committed to implementing the understanding expeditiously in a way that it adheres as closely as possible to the framework of the July 2005 joint statement and the March 2006 separation plan”, the Minister said.

The Minister then went to link the Indo-US nuclear cooperation with the country’s energy security. “We need to tap all sources of energy and keep our options in this regard open. It is in appreciation of this need that is at the heart of the India-US nuclear understanding and the larger energy dialogue.”

“Secure and sustainable energy sources are vital for ensuring India’s high economic growth rates and enable it to address the challenges of the poorest of its citizens”, he asserted.

Meanwhile, shortly after his meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon echoed the same point in a speech at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, putting numbers to what Mukherjee said.

Menon said: “At a projected growth rate of 8 per cent a year through 2031-32, the minimum necessary to eradicate poverty, India needs to increase its primary energy supply by 3 to 4 times, and its electricity generation capacity by 5 to 6 times current levels”.

The Foreign Secretary pointed out that average consumption of electricity per capita each year in India is currently only 550 kwH against a global average of 2430 kwH. The US average for the same is 13070 kwH and a Chinese figure is 1380 kwH.

To meet the twin challenges of energy security and climate change, India and the EU have an Energy Panel, which focuses on collaboration in clean coal technologies, nuclear energy, energy efficiency and the petroleum sector, the Foreign Secretary said.

Reiterating India’s commitment for complete disarmament, Menon said India’s status as a Nuclear Weapon State does not diminish its commitment to the objective of a nuclear weapon free world.

“Aspiring for a non-violent world order, through global, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament continues to be an important plank of our nuclear policy that is characterized by restraint, responsibility, transparency, predictability and a defensive orientation”, he said.

Calling for a new consensus on non-proliferation, he said India is ready to engage in negotiations in a non-discriminatory Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty.