Rice to visit India, nuke deal expected to be signed

With the Indo-US nuclear deal entering the last lap, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be in New Delhi on October 3.

With the Indo-US nuclear deal likely to get Congressional nod by early next week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be in New Delhi on October three on a day-long visit during which the two sides are expected to sign the 123 agreement.

Rice, whose visit has been pending for over a year mainly because of uncertainty over the nuclear deal, will hold talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on bilateral and regional issues.

The two leaders are also expected to sign the 123 agreement if it gets the expected clearance from the US Congress by then, sources said in New York on Saturday.

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The US House of Representatives is to vote on the agreement on Saturday while the Senate is expected to take up the matter on Monday.

The agreement, initialled on August one last year, was earlier expected to be signed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush during the former’s visit to Washington on Thursday.

However, it could not materialise as the Congressional nod got delayed due to procedures. Prior to Rice’s visit to India, Mukherjee will be in New York from Sunday on a four-day visit. He will attend the ongoing UN General Assembly and meet leaders of some countries.

Rice has been leading the push in getting the deal approved by the US Congress and in this regard has been working with key lawmakers.

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Pushing the case with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rice wrote to her, saying the Congress has an “unprecedented and historic opportunity” before it to ensure that the US and India “complete the journey we began together three years ago”.

“I am writing to express my strong support for the ‘United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Non-proliferation Enhancement Act’,” Rice wrote in the letter that comes just hours after President George W Bush said his administration is “working hard” to get deal passed “as quickly as possible”.

The agreement marks the culmination of a decade-long process of India’s emergence on the international stage and the Indian government’s “effort to steer a more pragmatic and realistic course in foreign affairs,” Rice wrote to Pelosi, a key player in getting the deal through.

“For the United States, passage of this legislation will clear the way to deepen the strategic relationship with India,” Rice said in the letter dated September 26.

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She also maintained that the agreement will open significant opportunities for American firms, help meet India’s surging energy requirements in an environment-friendly manner, and bring India into the “global nuclear non-proliferation mainstream”.

“We have an unprecedented and historic opportunity before us. With this legislation, Congress will help ensure that the United States and India complete the journey we began together three years ago, and ensure that US industry — just like its international counterparts — is able to engage with India on civil nuclear trade,” Rice said in the letter to Pelosi.

Separately, Rice told a news agency that the Bush administration is working “very hard” for the approval of the nuclear deal but stressed the time is “short”.