NEW DELHI (PTI): The next round of Indo-US talks on nuclear proliferation-related issues will be held in Washington on Noy.1213, official sources Oct.20 said.
Slated to be held soon after the US Presidential election, India is expected to acquaint itself with any new thinking in Washington in case poll predictions come true in favor of Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
Irrespective of the outcome, the two sides will aim at narrowing down the areas of disagreement on the nuclear non-proliferation issue,
With Russia endorsing Washington’s stand that India sign the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), New Delhi may face an increasing pressure to evolve a policy which could allay the western countries concern on its nuclear program.
The irritants created by Washington’s missile control sanctions and the rocket technology issue are also expected to be tackled by the two sides.
The U S is understood to be promoting a series of confidence building measures between India and Pakistan to ease tension south Asia on the nuclear issue,
Evolving a regional framework, with India and Pakistan as the key participants, to sort out the issue in , south Asia is one of the options being supported by Washington, —
New Delhi is opposed to a Pakistani proposal for a five-nation summit on the issue to be attended by the U S, Russia, China, India and Pakistan.
India dismissed as baseless a newspaper report from Washington that it was considering placement of its future nuclear installations under international safeguards.
The Washington report suggested a modification of the traditional Indian position on international safeguards.
An Indo-U S dialogue on the non-proliferation issue started when the then U S under secretary of state, Reginald Bartholomew, visited New Delhi in November 1991.
Foreign secretary J N Dixit followed up the talks on the issue during his visit to Washington in March this year.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 30, 1992
