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US military sanctions likely to end: Jaswant
US restrictions on the sale of military supplies to India were likely be lifted following President George W. Bush`s summit with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was quoted as saying on Saturday.
US restrictions on the sale of military supplies to India were likely be lifted following President George W. Bush's summit with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was quoted as saying on Saturday.
Speaking to Indian journalists in Washington, Singh said that as a result of the Bush-Vajpayee summit, he expected US military sanctions imposed on India since the Cold War to be lifted during a US-Indian bilateral defense meeting next month in New Delhi.
The understanding would clear the way for India to receive supplies "which we believe are needed for defense preparedness of the armed forces of the country," Singh said. In September, Bush partially lifted US sanctions against India and Pakistan, which were imposed in 1998 after they carried out nuclear weapons tests. But the US continues a longstanding ban on exports to India of some strategic equipment.
Singh called Vajpayee's visit to the US "a total success." "The objectives we had set for ourselves - the US and India - have been fully and adequately realised," hewas quoted saying.
He said that Vajpayee and Bush's first meeting was "extremely warm, very candid, full of mutual regard, with the conversation marked by goodwill, candor and trust."
At a joint press conference on Friday, Vajpayee assured Bush of India's "complete support" in the war against terrorism, despite the premier's earlier comments to The Washington Post that the military campaign "cannot be described as fully satisfactory."
Bush, in turn, said that his administration "is committed to developing a fundamentally different relationship with India - one based upon trust, one based upon mutual values."
Bureau Report
Speaking to Indian journalists in Washington, Singh said that as a result of the Bush-Vajpayee summit, he expected US military sanctions imposed on India since the Cold War to be lifted during a US-Indian bilateral defense meeting next month in New Delhi.
The understanding would clear the way for India to receive supplies "which we believe are needed for defense preparedness of the armed forces of the country," Singh said. In September, Bush partially lifted US sanctions against India and Pakistan, which were imposed in 1998 after they carried out nuclear weapons tests. But the US continues a longstanding ban on exports to India of some strategic equipment.
Singh called Vajpayee's visit to the US "a total success." "The objectives we had set for ourselves - the US and India - have been fully and adequately realised," hewas quoted saying.
He said that Vajpayee and Bush's first meeting was "extremely warm, very candid, full of mutual regard, with the conversation marked by goodwill, candor and trust."
At a joint press conference on Friday, Vajpayee assured Bush of India's "complete support" in the war against terrorism, despite the premier's earlier comments to The Washington Post that the military campaign "cannot be described as fully satisfactory."
Bush, in turn, said that his administration "is committed to developing a fundamentally different relationship with India - one based upon trust, one based upon mutual values."
Bureau Report