By : Hindu

Ahead of talks between India and the U.S. here next week on the civil nuclear issue, a senior American official has sought to put the onus on New Delhi, saying it should "move quickly" to help complete a bilateral agreement to make the initiative a reality.

Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns also said the two nations must take "two more giant steps" to achieve a global partnership increasing cooperation in fighting terrorism and creating a "stronger military partnership."

Writing in The Washington Post of April 29, Mr. Burns said the civil nuclear agreement, the "symbolic and public center piece of our new partnership", would "help alleviate the chronic power shortages that hinder India's economic growth" and open up new business opportunities for American companies. "We hope India will move quickly to help us complete a final bilateral agreement to make this a reality," Mr. Burns said in the article `Heady Times for India and the U.S.' posted at washingtonpost.com

Mr. Burns' comments assume significance as he will hold talks on the 123 agreement with Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon here on May 1. The U.S. has recently expressed its frustration at the slow pace of negotiations, India's insistence on the right to re-processing and an assurance that cooperation will continue even in the event of an atomic test.

Mr. Burns said U.S. firms would be "among the first to invest in and profit from the opening of [India's] gigantic energy market". "When fully implemented in 2008, [the nuclear] initiative will permit American and international companies to begin peaceful civilian nuclear cooperation with India for the first time in more than a generation. This would bring India out of its self-imposed isolation and into the international non-proliferation mainstream," he wrote. Mr. Burns said, "There are two more giant steps India and the U.S. must take to achieve a global partnership. First, India seeks U.S. assistance in helping to counter the wave of terrorist bombings of the past two years. The U.S. is ready. We are both victims of terrorism and need to work harder to establish the kind of trust required for effective joint work. Second, we can also do much more to create a stronger military partnership. We need to build on an already impressive series of joint military exercises by improving the inter-operability of our armed forces to respond to global contingencies."