IN HIS first official visit to the US, India鈥檚 prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has struck a deal with President George Bush to share civil nuclear technology, despite India鈥檚 refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The deal has to be ratified by the US Congress.
Arguing for the deal, President Bush said in a White House press release on 18 July: 鈥淎s a responsible state with advanced nuclear technology, India should acquire the same benefits and advantages as other such states.鈥� For his part, Singh assured Bush that India is 鈥渞eady to assume the same responsibilities and practices鈥� as other advanced nuclear nations, including separating civilian and military nuclear programmes, opening civilian facilities to UN inspections and 鈥渞efraining from transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies to states that do not have them鈥�.
鈥淚ndia should acquire the same benefits as other responsible nuclear states鈥�
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The Indian assurance accelerated the deal, which many had expected to be finalised during President Bush鈥檚 visit to India next year.