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India waiting for new NSG draft

New Delhi: Indian officials are still waiting for the United States to send across a new draft of the proposal seeking an exemption for India from the export guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

On Monday, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon held one round of talks with U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs William Burns in Washington. Mr. Menon is in the U.S. on a private visit — his son is getting married in Seattle — and he will be back at work on September 4. But the formulation of the new draft is being handled solely by the American side and Indian officials say they hope the text is shared with them well before the next NSG plenary, scheduled for September 4-5.

Working back from those dates, NSG members would ideally like to receive the final draft for consideration at least a week before the meeting. The less time there is for the process of internal review in NSG capitals, the greater is the possibility that the waiver might not be approved in the second meeting either. But if the draft is to be ready for circulation by Friday, that leaves less than 24 hours for India to react to the American draft, assuming it is shared with New Delhi expeditiously.

Asked about various formulations doing the rounds on the consequences of testing and other issues, Indian officials said they were not going to react to “trial balloons” being floated from Washington and that there was yet no draft proposal to react to.

India, say senior officials, has made its position on the kind of waiver that is needed clear.

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