PM leaves for US, France Monday, suspense over inking N-deal

New Delhi, Sep 21 (PTI) Armed with an N.S.G. waiver, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh embarks on a 10-day visit to the US and France Monday amid mounting suspense over the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal clearing the final Congressional hurdle in time for President George W. Bush to toast the landmark accord.

Singh's first diplomatic engagement abroad after the
crucial waiver that ended the country’s 34-year nuclear
isolation may also see India and France firm up an agreement
on civil nuclear energy cooperation after summit talks with
President Nicholas Sarkozy in Paris on September 30.

With just three working days left for the U.S. Congress
to take a call on the 123 agreement to clear the decks for the
nuke deal in its last lap, the White House is optimistic of
wrapping up the pact during Singh's working visit to
Washington on September 25 for a meeting with Bush.

In the backdrop of a string of terror attacks in India,
Terrorism will be high on Singh’s agenda in his parleys with
Bush and bilateral meetings with world leaders on the
sidelines of the 62nd annual session of the U.N. General
Assembly in New York.

Singh is expected to firmly convey India’s strong
concerns over cross-border terrorism and remind Pakistan about
its commitments in this regard at his first meeting with
President Asif Ali Zardari who has just spoken about the need
for bilateral ties to be "creatively reinvented".

A meeting with Chinese premier Wen Jiabo has also been
scheduled during which the two leaders are expected to put
behind the strains in bilateral relations following Beijing’s
perceived negative role at the Nuclear Suppliers Group(N.S.G.)
meet in Vienna.

Singh, who had last addressed the U.N. in 2005, will be
in New York from September 23 to 27 after an overnight halt in
Frankfurt. He will be attending the Indo-European Union(E.U.)
Summit in Marseilles in France on September 29.

At the U.N., Singh is expected to make a strong case for
the expansion of the Security Council and democratisation of
the U.N. systems. He will also touch upon important issues
including terrorism, verifiable and comprehensive nuclear
disarmament, food crisis and poverty eradication.

With India and the US waiting with bated breath for the
US Congress to approve the 123 Agreement in the last lap in
the nuclear deal's tortuous journey, the White House is hoping
that Singh's visit to Washington will help push the landmark
accord "over the line".

Singh and Bush will also review the progress in bilateral
initiatives since they last met in Japan in June this year on
the sidelines of the Summit of Group of Eight Industrialised
countries(G-8). The scope for more defence tie ups is also
expected to figure in the parleys which will be the last
between the two leaders.

Singh, who will be accompanied by a high-level
delegation, including Foreign Secretary Shivshanker Menon and
National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, will address the
Indian community in New York on September 27 before leaving
for Marseilles.

On Indo-Pak relations, Menon gave enough hints that the
Prime Minister will vigorously take up cross-border terrorism
during his parleys with Zardari. "We will have to deal with
basic questions coming in the way of normalisation of
relations," Menon said ahead of Singh's trip in the backdrop
of incidents like increasing ceasefire violations by Pakistan
and rising terror attacks in India.

The progress in India's relations with European countries
as a block in the EU and France separately will be reviewed at
the annual Indo-EU summit in Marseilles and parleys with
Sarkozy on September 29 and 30 respectively.

India and France have finalised a bilateral nuclear
agreement on the lines of the Indo-US nuke deal but there is
no final word yet as to whether it will be inked during
Singh's visit to Paris. The two countries are, however,
expected to sign a bilateral civil aviation agreement.

The two countries will review the progress in defence
cooperation since it is a key aspect of their overall
bilateral relationship. Singh is also expected to thank
Sarkozy for France's active support in helping India secure
the N.S.G. waiver paving the way for India to resume global
nuclear trade.

The Prime Minister will be one of the key speakers at
the U.N.G.A. session whose theme this year will be "Impact of
the global food crisis on poverty and the hunger in the world
as well as the need to democratise the United Nations".

India is looking forward to a quick conclusion of the
Inter-Governmental negotiations on expansion of the U.N.
Security Council. India has pressed its claim for permanent
membership of the U.N. Security Council.

The meltdown in U.S. financial markets and the faltering
world trade negotiations is expected to give a economic
content to Singh's talks with world leaders.

Singh will address a Indo-EU business summit in Paris on
September 30. The EU is India's largest trading partner while
India was EU's 9th largest trading partner in 2007. The
EU-India trade has been growing steadily reaching 55.66
billion Euro(1.8 percent of EU's total trade). PTI GSN
SHN