The Indian team will be headed by India’s envoy in Singapore S. Jaishankar, who will be leaving tomorrow. He will also use the opportunity to reach out to other NSG members though the n-deal is not, so far, on the NSG’s agenda.

There has been some frenetic diplomacy over the last couple of weeks to get matters moving fast in India — US Ambassador David Mulford has been holding meetings with top PMO officials and the MEA almost on a daily basis.

On the 123 talks, the key area of difference is over the cessation of cooperation if India were to test a nuclear device.

While India is against any explicit commitment on this in the agreement, including a unilateral moratorium on testing, the government will need to take a view on this given the high stakes involved if India planned tests in the future. It is here that the DAE feels US should not place such conditions.

While Washington is likely to accept the Indian position and not mention the term “unilateral moratorium” in the agreement, the fact is that a test will lead to the end of all nuclear cooperation as this is required under the Hyde Act.

As of now, the US language in the agreement is on the lines that in case India were to explode a device, US will act according to its “supreme national interest”.

The other issues of difference:

• Permanent safeguards and assurance on fuel supplies: While DAE is keen to make this appear as a reciprocal arrangement, Washington is not in favour of a direct link in the text as it does not make such offers to other countries with which it has similar cooperation. It’s learnt that this issue may be resolved as “more acceptable language” emerged in the last round of talks.

... contd.