PM offers US N-bill JWG
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered a joint working group to allay American concerns about the nuclear liability bill, although officials were tightlipped on the exact interchange at the hour-long meeting between the PM and US President
Barack Obama, a day after India signalled it was willing to meet US and other potential nuclear supplier groups halfway by limiting the suppliers’ liability to a shorter period.
Mr Obama, in his opening remarks, with a visibly pleased Dr Singh standing by his side, pointedly said the US would focus on how Washington and Delhi could work together “not only on bilateral issues but also in multilateral fora like the East Asia Summit, which we believe can be the premier arena for us to work together on a wide range of issues such as maritime security or non-proliferation, as well as expand the kind of cooperation on disaster relief and humanitarian aid that’s so important.”
His remarks mark the culmination of a series of carefully calibrated statements that have pegged India and Australia as part of an emerging “robust, principled US-India-Australia trilateral relationship” in the Asia-Pacific, where the US has shown renewed interest.
The PM publicly indicated the liability bill was on the agenda, and said as much to the media after the talks with Mr Obama. “I explained to him we have a law in place and rules have been formulated... These will lie in Parliament for 30 days. We have gone some way to respond to concerns of American companies and within the four corners of the law of the land, we are willing to address any specific grievances.”
In an obvious reference to the liability bill, he added: “And I am very happy to report to you there are, today, no irritants whatsoever in our working together on a multiplicity of areas, both bilateral, regional, and global issues.”
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