Obama Visit: India, U.S. Achieve Breakthrough In Civil N-Deal Implementation

NEW DELHI: India and the U.S. announced the much-anticipated breakthrough agreement on commercial implementation of their landmark civil nuclear deal, six years after it was signed, and also entered a new strategic phase of co-production of some defence projects, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting U.S. President Barack Obama held talks marked by much warmth and camaraderie.

Both Obama and Modi announced that the "breakthrough" had been arrived at in the civil nuclear deal - which ended decades of India's nuclear isolation because of its refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) - during the joint press interaction after a marathon over three-hour talks at the Hyderabad House.

Modi said in his speech: "I am pleased that six years after we signed our bilateral agreement, we are moving towards commercial cooperation, consistent with our law, our international legal obligations, and technical and commercial viability."

Obama, describing it as a "breakthrough understanding", said the two leaders agreed to "advance our civil nuclear cooperation and we are committed to moving toward full implementation".

"It is an important step and shows us how we can work together to elevate our relationship."

"The deal is done... We have broken the logjam of the past few years," said Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, briefing newspersons later.

She acknowledged that the "political leadership played key role" in pushing forward the agreement.

The Indo-U.S. nuclear contact group, that has held three meetings including one that ended in London just a day ago, had been working at a frenetic pace to tide over concerns from both sides ahead of the Modi-Obama meeting.

Sujatha Singh said there were "very specific political directions to address the concerns" on both sides.

"There is a clear intention to reinvigorate the relationship and take it forward," she said.

She also said both leaders were committed to work jointly for India's entry to the four multilateral export controls regimes - the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Australia Group, and the Wassenaar Arrangement.

She said Obama "supports an early decision on India's entry into all four regimes".

In the field of defence, the two sides renewed the 10-year Defence Framework Agreement and the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI).

The new framework is to enhance the bilateral defence partnership with more intensive joint military exercises and maritime security efforts among others.

Under the DTTI, which is for co-production, both have agreed on four projects, including the Raven unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and the "roll-on, roll-off" intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance module for the Lockheed Martin-manufactured C-130 J transport aircraft, Sujatha Singh said.

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