Boucher says Hyde Act not to impact N-trade

Although visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher today reminded New Delhi that "time was very tight" for operationalising the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, he appeared to support the UPA government's contention that India was bound by the 123 Agreement and not the Hyde Act on the deal.

"The Hyde Act is an enabling Act for the US to go for agreements like the Indo-US civil nuclear deal and we see no contradiction between the two," Boucher said. He also clarified that the 123 Agreement and not the Hyde Act would determine the trade of nuclear materials between the two countries.

Boucher, the top US bureaucrat in charge of South Asia, had also met foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon and senior officials of the external affairs ministry on Monday.

Speaking to the media, Boucher, however, sought to change the current singular focus of the Indo-US relations from the nuclear deal by claiming to have come here to "discuss thematic bilateral issues including the civil nuclear deal and also the happenings in South Asian affairs with the Indians".

Boucher said he was told by the Indian officials that they were still negotiating the safeguards agreement with the IAEA. Thereafter, India would have to go to the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG), where, he claimed "it would take nearly one to two months to generate a consensus".

"The talks with IAEA is a big missing piece in the whole puzzle" and if India was to stick to a realistic timetable to get the deal ratified by the US Congress in an election year, it should send the agreement back to Washington by July, he said.

The word "deadline" that irritated Menon into retorting that India knew "what had to be done" was not mentioned by him.