New Delhi, July 15: Days before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives In India on her first official visit after taking charge, India is learnt to have firmed up a site each in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh that will be dedicated for the first US nuclear reactors after the nuclear deal.
While this has already been indicated to Washington, sources said, a formal announcement could happen during Clinton’s visit. The identification of the sites flows from a commitment India had given, through a letter of intent under the nuclear deal, which commits India to purchase 10,000 MW from US nuclear companies and mark “at least two sites” for this purpose.
Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were the two states that offered sites for this and have now been approved. On a broader level, India and the US have agreed to restructure their interaction and condense some 27 ongoing bilateral dialogues at various levels under what will now be called “five pillars” of the relationship — Strategic and Defence Cooperation, Science & Technology and Health Innovation, Energy and Climate Change, Education and Development, and Economic, Trade and Agriculture.
It’s learnt that officials from both sides have also firmed up the Technology Safeguards Agreement which will allow India to launch satellites built with US-origin equipment. This is expected to be signed during the visit and is an important precursor to the Commercial Space Launch Agreement, which has been pending for a long time.
Another crucial agreement that is on the verge of being finalized over the next couple of days is the End-User Verification (EUV) Agreement, which would then permit US to sell defence products to India.
–Agencies