At their meeting today, Mukherjee made it clear that for India to sustain its 8-10 per cent growth, nuclear energy was vital and that efforts were being made towards that end. The IAEA was not, however, given any indication of when New Delhi would like to start negotiations on a safeguards agreement.

While saying there were “no deadlines” for India to approach the IAEA, ElBaradei felt the time had come for India to be part of “all aspects” of the nuclear mainstream. Emerging from the meeting, he said: “As a friend of India, I would like India to make full use of nuclear energy. The nuclear deal will help in regularising India’s relations with the international community.”

As for the safeguards agreement, ElBaradei did not see any major hurdle given that India has already signed four such reactor-specific agreements with the IAEA. New Delhi, however, will have to make a formal request for the overall safeguards agreement as envisaged in the nuclear deal.

Later, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said that ElBaradei also recalled he had spoken since 2004 on the need for India to take its rightful place as an equal partner in the global nuclear order.

Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon hosted a dinner for ElBaradei who is slated to have talks with National Security Advisor M K Narayanan before his meeting with the PM tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Washington also made it clear today that the timing was entirely in India’s hands. “There are a number of different steps that will need to be taken in order to finally conclude all aspects of this agreement. It’s going to be up to the Indian government to go through some of those steps on their own, said US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack.