US asks India to modify nuclear liability regime

By Arun Kumar

New York: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday asked India to ensure that its nuclear liability regime conforms with the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.

Clinton made the call in a 40 minute meeting here on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session with Indian External Affairs Minister Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna, according to a senior State Department Official.

India’s nuclear liability regime has become a sticking point in the full implementation of the landmark India-US nuclear deal, with American companies reluctant to do business under the tough compensation legislation passed by the Indian parliament.

Clinton complimented India on its active participation in the New Silk Road initiative to strengthen transit and trade in South and Central Asia as the two ministers compared notes on the upcoming New Silk Road conference in Istanbul early November, the US official said.

Clinton and Krishna agreed on the importance of the two countries’ shared bilateral, regional and global efforts to combat terrorism and the establishment of the new Global Counterterrorism forum, he said.

They also discussed Middle East peace, and both ministers expressed the hope that the Israelis and Palestinians will take up the proposal put forward by the Quartet September 23 and come back to the negotiating table.

Clinton and Krishna also discussed the situation in Syria, and the need for a strong message from the UN Security Council to the Asad regime that the violence must end.

Clinton also thanked Krishna for India’s peacekeeping contribution in South Sudan, and they discussed the need to work with both Khartoum and Juba to quell the violence in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan.

Write to Arun Kumar at arun.kumar@ians.in