Bureaucratic delay in US-India nuclear deal

NEW DELHI // Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, held talks yesterday in India on a visit to showcase a landmark bilateral nuclear deal, but last-minute hitches derailed the scheduled signing of the pact. Ms Rice, who had lobbied Congress to approve the deal despite fears it could undercut global efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons, had hoped to initial the agreement as the highlight of her brief trip.

However, she told reporters on her plane to New Delhi the signing had to be delayed because of what she described as bureaucratic rather than substantive issues. "There are a lot of administrative details that have to be worked out," she said. The delay is yet another bump in a three-year rollercoaster for the agreement aimed at lifting a ban on US-Indian civilian nuclear trade imposed after India's first nuclear test in 1974.

Ms Rice said her visit should still be seen in the wider context of a budding US-India strategic partnership that covers co-operation on defence, education, the economy, agriculture and other fields. "The whole purpose of this trip is to move forward, not to look at where we are," she said. Shortly after landing in New Delhi, Ms Rice held talks with Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian foreign minister, and was due to meet Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, later in the day.

Both houses of the US Congress voted in favour of the nuclear deal this week, but George W Bush, the president, has yet to sign it into law. Ms Rice did not elaborate on the administrative snags that scuppered yesterday's signing, but Indian foreign ministry sources said New Delhi wanted the presidential seal before moving forward. The deal offers India access to sophisticated US technology and cheap atomic energy in return for New Delhi allowing UN inspections of some of its civilian nuclear facilities.

Military nuclear sites will remain closed to international inspections. * Agence France-Presse