Nuclear suppliers listen to India’s first brief on the deal

This was the first time NSG members agreed to invite India for a presentation on Thursday on the margins of its Consultative Committee meeting.

This happened as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in Helsinki trying to garner support from Finland, which along with other Scandinavian countries, has not yet favoured the nuclear deal. That India got its opportunity in Vienna clearly shows PM’s recent visits to Brazil, South Africa and now Finland have made their impact on getting the NSG to at least hear New Delhi’s case.

While it is clear that the NSG will decide only after the US Congress has passed the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation Bill, the support on Capitol Hill to the deal has also had a resonance with the 45-member NSG divided until not so long ago on even inviting India to make a formal presentation.

It’s learnt that the presentation took place in the IAEA premises with over 200 delegates from different NSG countries present. The meeting, slotted for two hours, lasted twice as long with countries largely seeking clarifications instead of expressing their outright opposition.

The Indian delegation was led by India’s envoy in Vienna Sheel Kant Sharma with Joint Secretary in-charge of US S. Jaishankar making the presentation.

One key positive from the meeting was the silence of South Africa that was until now quite vocal within the NSG against the deal. Having unilaterally given up the nuclear weapons option to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty, South Africa has been opposing any exemption. However, Singh’s South Africa visit has clearly made its impact.

China, sources said, continued to be ambiguous on the issue. In this context, Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit on November 20 will provide an opportunity for New Delhi to raise the matter at the highest level.

The other country that has been raising uncomfortable questions is Ireland, for which PM’s Special Envoy on the n-deal Shyam Saran will be visiting Dublin next week. With US and UK backing the deal, the hope is Ireland will show flexibility.

The coming weeks are crucial to the n-deal...