Jubilation in Delhi: “Sense of relief“ in Vienna

06 September 2008

Vienna:  Ending three decades of nuclear isolation India is now all set to enter the global mainstream of nuclear commerce after being granted a one-off waiver by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a cartel of 45-nations that governs rules and conditions in this sensitive industry.

After prolonged negotiations, which extended the originally scheduled two-day meet into a third day, last strands of resistance from three 'holdout' countries, Austria, New Zealand and Ireland finally collapsed and a much needed waiver for India has been granted.

It would appear that the language of the final version of the draft, worked on by the US negotiators and cleared by the Indian government, was acceptable to all the NSG members.

"Today we have reached a landmark decision to allow for civilian nuclear trade with India," John Rood, acting US undersecretary of state for arms control issues, told reporters.

"This is a historical moment for the NSG, for India and for India's relations with the rest of the world," he said.

A statement from Austria, one of the three 'holdout' nations said, "We are finally convinced by Pranab's (Indian external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee) statement and India's commitment to non-proliferation. We continue to have concerns on the language on testing but we will not block consensus."