Bangalore: The US today said Indian parliament
needs to act upon the "critical" nuclear liability bill to
take forward the Indo-American nuclear deal which had reached
"almost the finishing line".
US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer said there were "a
couple of small issues we have to resolve" but replied in the
negative, when asked if the deal had hit a road-block.
"Liability bill first and foremost. That's critical...that's
something (Indian) Parliament needs to act upon," he said,
expressing hope this "very helpful, very important legislation
for America and for India" would be passed in the next
session.
"We are very hopeful, I am an optimist that this (bill)
will get through in the next session of Parliament," he said.
Roemer said both countries were "very close" to the
completion of reprocessing agreement. "We are very close. I
think we will resolve that in the next couple of weeks. We are
getting there. We are very close".
He said the two nations had made "great strides... almost
to the finish line (on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal)".
-PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 18, 2010, 00:48