INDIA:India has successfully concluded a controversial civilian nuclear deal with the US to help meet its soaring energy needs. It concluded the agreement despite retaining its active atomic weapons programme and staying out of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee said all of India's concerns had been allayed following extended negotiations between the two sides in Washington last week.
"They approved the agreement," Mr Mukherjee said after a joint meeting of India's cabinet committees on security and political affairs.
The deal will give India access to US nuclear fuel and equipment for the first time in 30 years and is seen by the two sides as a symbol of the new strategic relationship, following a long estrangement during the cold war years.
Details of the bilateral pact, however, have not been made public by either side. But official sources indicated that it was likely to be signed "soon", possibly during US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's proposed visit to India.
First agreed in principle two years ago, and with the framework deal approved by the US Congress last December, Washington is believed to have accommodated New Delhi's concerns by allowing it to reprocess spent nuclear fuel at a dedicated plant that India has said it will build for this purpose. The US also agreed to ensure a permanent supply of nuclear fuel to India; this was a matter of grave concern to the country's atomic scientists.
But a complex series of consultations would be required before the US administration could penalise India by ending nuclear trade if it conducted another nuclear test.
The pact now has to be approved by the US Congress.
Meanwhile, India needs to obtain clearances from the 45-member nuclear suppliers group (NSG) that governs global civilian nuclear trade. It has also to conclude an agreement with the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency to place 14 of its 22 nuclear plants under safeguards and inspection.
The nuclear agreement is opposed by critics in both countries who claim too many compromises have been made by either side in their eagerness to conclude a "contentious" pact.
India is also apprehensive over the reception it will receive in the Democrat-dominated US Congress, where support for President George Bush has diminished and several members, including some from his Republican Party, have expressed concerns over nuclear proliferation.
It was also unsure about neighbouring China's support at the NSG, fearing that Beijing could block progress as enhanced India-United States strategic, military and now nuclear ties, are viewed as an attempt at "containing" its rise.