Commercial interests not in the core of Indo-US deal: Sen

Kolkata, Sep 3 (PTI) Ruling out "speculations" that
commercial interests were at the core of the Indo-US civil
nuclear pact, former Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen
said the full extent of the deal's impact was not realised in
the country.

"There have been uninformed speculations about commercial
interests being at the core of the US role in freeing India
from global isolation from nuclear and other high technology
trade," Sen said while delivering the Sarat Bose Memorial
Lecture at the Netaji Bhavan here.

"Suggestions had been made about the desirability of
concluding commercial deals with countries like Russia and
France while proceeding with the US with caution. This kind
of thinking is oblivious of global realities," he said.

Sen who was Secretary to the Atomic Energy Commission
in the seventies, said that the full extent of the impact of
the deal was not realised in India.

"The essence of the agreement and its implications got
lost in the maze of technical and legal details. It was mainly
projected in our country in terms of promoting out energy
security and in the US, as strengthening non-proliferation
and fostering closer partnership with the world's largest
democracy," he said in his lecture Wednesday evening. (More)
PTI