BLAKE 2 LST

Blake said the US, under President Barack Obama, remains
very much committed to the nuclear deal that was signed by the
then President George W Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh.
"Then-Senator Obama was a supporter of that, as was
Senator (Hillary) Clinton, and the Obama administration has
reaffirmed its support for that agreement," he said.
"So, we are now in the process of implementing that
agreement... We have very important talks on reprocessing
under way. Those are, I think, making good progress and the
deadline for completing those is August of this year, and we
expect to be done well before then," he said.
The US is very much hoping that the Indian government
will proceed with the key legislation on nuclear liability
that would be very important protection for American companies
which are seeking to do more business in the civil nuclear
area in India, Blake said.
He also said the Obama Administration expects Prime
Minister Singh to play a prominent role at the nuclear summit
convened by the US President in April.
Obama "looks forward to welcoming Prime Minister Singh,
who will be one of the very prominent and welcome attendees at
that summit," Blake said in the interview, according to a
transcript released by the State Department.
Heads of State of as many as 45 countries are expected to
attend the two-day nuclear summit beginning on April 12.
"Prime Minister Singh has already endorsed the
President's vision of working towards a nuclear weapons-free
world. As you know, the President outlined that vision in
Prague in March of last year," Blake said. PTI