India, UK to formalise nuclear agreement today

New Delhi: India and the UK will formalise a civil nuclear agreement in the course of a signing ceremony in New Delhi on Thursday. The agreement will be signed by Indian Atomic Energy Commission chairman, S Bannerjee, and British High Commissioner, Richard Stagg, at South Block, sources said.

The signing ceremony follows hard on the heels of an announcement last week by UK business secretary, Lord Peter Mandelson, that both countries had agreed on the text of a landmark civil nuclear deal and that a formal pact could be signed soon.

The announcement was made in the course of a visit by commerce minister Anand Sharma to the UK for a meeting of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee.

UK's nuclear goods and equipment exports are worth 700 million pounds and its civil nuclear industry provides employment to 80,000 people. It has naturally been anxious to secure such an agreement at the earliest.

The agreement follows similar ones with France, Russia and others. Indeed, the agreement with the UK will be the seventh such agreement which India has so far secured with nations around the world.

The agreement with the UK, due to be signed last year in December in the course of Lord Mandelson's visit to this country, was delayed mainly on account of references to non-proliferation related issues, including one to the fissile materials cut off treaty, included by the British side in the draft. These were felt to be unnecessary and New Delhi asked the British side to make the required changes.