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Bush-Manmohan meeting `positive'

K. Venugopal

I think the nuclear deal is do-able, we hope to do that soon: Menon

ON THE SIDELINES: U.S. President George W.Bush listening to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and South African President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki during a photo session at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm on Friday. — P HOTO: AFP

Berlin: It was always going to be a short meeting given the complex schedules of the more than dozen leaders gathered at the G8 summit. That United States President George Bush took time out from the summit in the forenoon with a stomach infection even cast doubts whether Manmohan Singh would get to meet him. Eventually, they did for a few minutes, and those were enough for what was described as a "positive" meeting by Indian officials.

What they discussed was not made known but the fact that the National Security Advisers on the two sides, M.K. Narayanan and Stephen Hadley, met to talk about the nitty-gritty issues on which the deal is stuck suggests that some new ground may have been covered.

Briefing the Indian media in the evening, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon reiterated that the two sides were committed to getting an agreement that is mutually acceptable. "I think it is do-able," he said. "We hope to do that soon."

A G8 declaration on non-proliferation, issued earlier in the day, hinted that India had not done enough to make itself eligible for multilateral help with its civilian nuclear programme.

"We look forward to reinforcing our partnership with India," said the declaration. "We note the commitments India has made, and encourage India to take further steps towards integration into the mainstream of strengthening the non-proliferation regime so as to facilitate a more forthcoming approach towards nuclear cooperation to address its energy requirements, in a manner that enhances and reinforces the global non-proliferation regime."

There was no immediate comment from Indian officials on this observation.

Earlier in the day in their joint interaction with the G8, Dr. Singh and leaders of four other emerging economies — China, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa — placed the onus of dealing with climate change on the developed nations, asking them to make significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions first. "Greenhouse gas mitigation in developed countries is the key to address climate change given their responsibilities in causing it," noted a joint policy paper that was presented to the leaders of the G8, the group of eight top industrialised nations: the U.S., the U.K., Japan, France, Italy, Japan, Russia and Canada.

They were reacting to the statement of the G8 that cutbacks in emissions by the developed countries alone would not be adequate; the emerging economies too have to pitch in. "We invite notably the emerging economies to address the increase in their emissions by reducing the carbon intensity of their economic development," the G8 declaration had said.

The emerging countries said access to adequate technology was a key enabling condition. "We need an agreement on transfer of technologies at affordable costs," they noted in their joint paper.

Aware of the constraints that patents imposed on the transfer of technologies, they said, "Rewards for innovators need to be balanced with common good for humankind."

The coordinated push followed a meeting the leaders of the emerging economies had on Thursday, a day ahead of their meeting with the G8. They also used the occasion to ask the developed nations to give a push to the stalled Doha round of negotiations, and for a new framework for international migration.

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