PM-LD US 2LAST

The requirement of the "assurance", which is seen as a
"proximate obstacle" to doing business, has suprised the
Indian side which is looking forward to implementation of the
123 Agreement for civil nuclear cooperation signed last year.

The Obama administration cited the requirement of the
assurance in February last and this has been pushed by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Energy Secretary Stevan
Chu during their visits to India later.
It feels that in the absence of such an "assurance" from
India, the US Department of Energy may find it difficult to
issue the mandatory license –called Part 810 (pronounced Part
eight ten) – to American companies for doing any kind of
civilian nuclear trade with the country.
Singh, the first world leader to be State guest under
the ten-month-old Obama Administration, set a positive tone to
the visit, saying in the interview that India and US are
strategic partners.
"We are strategic partners. We have good relations. But
there is a new administration in America. So it is appropriate
that I should renew our partnership," he said.
He noted that India and the US could be partners in
refocusing attention on an "equitable, balanced global
order".
"We would like to strengthen energy cooperation with the
United States -- (in) clean coal technology and in renewable
energy resources," he said.
With India working for a second Green Revolution, it was
looking for cooperation with the US in the fields of
agriculture, science and technology, health and in dealing
with pandemics, the Prime Minister said. PTI LKJ
ANU



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