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Adhere to CTBT, Richardson tells India

India must stop production of fissile material, restrain its missile programme and adhere to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, United States Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said in New Delhi today.

Describing the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons as a matter of ''importance'', Richardson who is close to United States President Bill Clinton said it is ''a divisive issue, I know, but an urgent one. It is not in India's interest to live in a neighbourhood bristling with nuclear arsenals. I ask, here and now, that India end production of fissile material and join us in urging immediate negotiations for a global Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, strengthen its export controls, restrain its missile programme and adhere to the CTBT.''

Richardson said interaction within the energy sector could pave the way for lifting of post-nuclear test sanctions slapped on India by the US.

Talking on the CTBT at the Environment Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in Delhi, the US energy secretary said that as a result of a short-sighted majority the US Senate recently refused to ratify the treaty. ''But we will continue to press for Senate ratification and you can be sure that President Clinton will not permit the US to resume nuclear testing,'' he claimed.

UNI

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