US asks India to keep its part of the bargain on the 123 agreement

07 Apr 2007

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New Delhi: The United States wants India to speed up its part of the bargain on the 123 agreement for the full implementation of the Civil Nuclear cooperation. The US says that it had fulfilled its own commitments.

Foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said that India could not be rushed into the deal, during his discussions with US assistant secretary of state for political affairs Richard Boucher in New Delhi yesterday, during their review of the progress on the agreement.

Boucher said the US is carrying through all its commitments and is ready to conclude the deal before the presidential elections due in 2008 and that it was now up to India to conclude its part.

US assistant secretary was in India as a representative of the US as "Observer" at the 14th SAARC summit of heads of state and governments on earlier this week.

Along with the US, the European Union (EU), China, Japan and South Korea also attended the summit as "observers."