Advertisement

Help
You are here: Rediff Home » India » News » PTI
Search:  Rediff.com The Web
Advertisement
   Discuss   |      Email   |      Print | Get latest news on your desktop

PM meets Sonia, discusses revised NSG draft
Get news updates:What's this?
Advertisement
August 30, 2008 14:07 IST

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] on Friday held deliberations with Congress president Sonia Gandhi [Images] and some other senior colleagues over the nuclear issue ahead of the Nuclear Suppliers' Group meeting in Vienna [Images].

 India talks tough on NSG waiver

The meeting, also attended by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress president, is understood to have assessed the revised draft prepared by the United States for consideration of the Nuclear Suppliers Group at its meeting on September 4-5.

View: Nuclear deal in dire trouble

 The meeting is understood to have deliberated upon the situation in view of the original NSG draft waiver being amended because of concerns expressed by various countries.

The Congress leadership is believed to have weighed options available if things do not work out as desired at the upcoming meeting of the NSG.

Coverage: The Indo-US nuclear deal

Singh earlier held similar consultations with Mukherjee, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar on the issue amid the hope that the 45-nation grouping will give a clean and unconditional waiver.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, who is in the US and in touch with the American officials there, is also in constant contact with Mukherjee and Kakodkar over the issue.

 NSG waiver may take time: US

Menon will be traveling to Vienna for the NSG meeting directly from the US.

The NSG failed to arrive at a final decision on the proposed India waiver at the August 21-22 meet after several countries raised non-proliferation issues and proposed over 50 amendments to the draft before it could be considered.

 NSG: Do not discard the baby with the bath water

In the revised draft of the waiver, New Delhi [Images] is expecting minimal changes and hopes that it will have a language and 'semantics which can be sold' to the people of the country without any problems, sources said.


© Copyright 2008 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
 Email  |    Print   |   Get latest news on your desktop

© 2008 Rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer | Feedback