United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who is on a two-day visit to India, on Monday said the federal government in Washington should finalize the necessary steps to remove obstacles to India-United States civil nuclear cooperation. So that new momentum can be provided. Historic agreement between the two countries.
“The United States is now finalizing the steps necessary to lift long-standing rules that prevent civilian nuclear cooperation between India’s major nuclear entities and US companies,” Mr Sullivan said in New Delhi on Monday. Let’s stop.”
New Delhi and Washington have been discussing the supply of US nuclear reactors to India since the mid-2000s.
The civil nuclear agreement was signed by then President George W. Bush in 2007, which was a major step towards allowing the United States to sell civil nuclear technology to India. The two countries agreed to build six US nuclear power plants in India in 2019.
However, a long-standing hurdle at the corporation has been the need to bring Indian liability rules in line with global norms, which require the cost of any accident to be passed on to the operator of a nuclear power plant rather than the builder.
India’s strict nuclear compensation laws have previously discouraged foreign power plant builders from collaborating with New Delhi, causing it to defer its target of adding 20,000 megawatts of nuclear power from 2020 to 2030.
Jake Sullivan is on a two-day visit to New Delhi, days before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in. His visit was the last high-profile visit of the outgoing Biden administration to New Delhi.
A US official told Reuters news agency that Washington expects to discuss the impact of Chinese upstream dams, artificial intelligence, space, military licensing and Chinese economic overcapacity during Sullivan’s stay in New Delhi.
Earlier in the day, Mr Sullivan met India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar in Delhi and discussed enhancing bilateral, regional and global cooperation.
After the meeting, Mr Jaishankar acknowledged Mr Sullivan’s “personal contribution” in strengthening the India-US partnership over the past four years.
“Pleased to meet US NSA @JakeSullivan46 in New Delhi this morning. Continued our ongoing discussions on deepening bilateral, regional and global cooperation. Valued the openness of our interactions over the last four years. Building a closer and stronger India Appreciated his personal contribution.” -US partnership,” he wrote in a post on Twitter
