Burns swears by Indo-US N-deal

“We had very productive discussions on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues. We stressed our shared interest in expanding our economic cooperation between our two countries (and) our shared commitment to the full implementation of the Civil Nuclear Agreement,” said the US Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns.

Burns was talking to media-persons after a meeting with Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai in the South Block on Monday. He also called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and had a meeting with National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon.

Burns is the first top official of the US Department of State to visit India after New Delhi notified the rules framed under the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010.
The rules were made public just a day before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for Bali in Indonesia on November 17 to attend the India-ASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit. He had a bilateral meeting with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit.

Singh is understood to have told Obama in Bali that the rules framed by New Delhi would address some of the concerns of the US nuclear energy companies over the liability regime in India. He, however, made it clear that the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010 passed by Parliament was now a law of the land and US companies seeking to enter the market in India would have to operate within the ‘four corners’ of the law.

Burns said he was pleased to follow-up on the ‘excellent meeting’ Obama and Singh had in Bali. The US nuclear companies were not happy with India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act.