Burns arrives for talks, both sides flexible

In a last ditch effort to conclude the nuclear deal days before President George W Bush's visit here, India and US will hold talks tomorrow amid indications that both sides are ready to show flexibility.

Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will hold the third round of talks here with US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns to iron out differences and finetune the agreement on which the Americans said a few days ago that 90 per cent negotiations had been completed.

The negotiations had run into "difficulties" over the issue of separation of civilian and military nuclear facilities with the US insisting that India put more reactors on the civilian list than it was ready to do.

These included home-grown fast breeder reactors (FBRs), a move opposed by New Delhi.

The two sides are now understood to have expressed readiness to be flexible. India, on its part, is believed to have agreed to put at least half its nuclear reactors in the civilian side while the US is understood to have accepted leaving out of FBRs for the next seven years.

Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said both the countries were "mindful" of their positions. "We will be happy if this agreement is reached. Both sides are talking," he said, adding that no time-frame had been set for concluding the deal, signed on July 18.

"We are mindful of our position. I think both the countries are," he told a TV channel. The minister said the government would not take any decision without the concurrence of the country's scientist community.

Ahead of his visit here, Burns had told a news magazine in Washington that "we are 90 per cent on the way there (to implementation of the deal)".

On the eve of the talks, the prime minister's scientific adviser C N R Rao said India could not agree to putting the FBRs in the civilian list and could opt out of the deal if the negotiations failed.

Burns will also discuss with Indian officials the preparations for Bush's visit the first week of next month.