Date:19/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/19/stories/2008021959771000.htm

National

U.S. help must for nuclear trade: Saran

New Delhi: Even as the Left parties have been opposing nuclear cooperation with the United States in preference to Russia and France, Prime Minister’s Special Envoy Shyam Saran has said that none of these countries has the “necessary standing” to open the process for accommodating India in the global nuclear trade.

India will not be able to have civil nuclear trade with the international community without the United States taking the “lead on our behalf,” he said here on Monday.

Mr. Saran was delivering a lecture on ‘India and the Nuclear Domain’ organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

Russia and France were friendly to India and extremely keen to engage in nuclear commerce with it, Mr. Saran said. “However, there should be no doubt that neither they nor others will make an exception for India unilaterally unless the Nuclear Suppliers Group adjusts its guidelines in the same manner as the U.S. is prepared to do.” — PTI