Friday, August 22, 2008

Nuclear Suppliers Group refuses to approve uranium sales to India

Nuclear Suppliers Group refuses to approve uranium sales to India (NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI August 22, 2008: The Nuclear Suppliers Group has failed to lift a 34-year-long ban on nuclear trade with India, delaying a U.S.-sponsored deal on civil nuclear cooperation, Indian NDTV reported Friday. After a two-day meeting in Vienna "participating governments exchanged views in a constructive manner and agreed to meet again in the near future to continue their deliberations,'' the group said in a statement on its Web site. The next meeting of the group, currently chaired by Germany, is scheduled for September 4-5. India tested a nuclear weapon in 1974, and the multinational Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), was subsequently founded in 1975 to control nuclear materials proliferation. A nuclear cooperation pact between New Delhi and Washington was agreed last July and would allow India to buy nuclear fuel from the United States, but it needs the approval of the NSG and the U.S. Congress before it can come into effect. The sale of nuclear fuel to India is still forbidden by international regulations because New Delhi has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The International Atomic Energy Agency approved on August 1 an agreement with India on safeguards regarding civilian nuclear facilities, allowing New Delhi and the United States to begin the implementation of a civilian nuclear power cooperation treaty.

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