India presses US to dismantle dual-use tech sanctions

New Delhi, July 14 : With less than four months to go before US President Barack Obama's maiden visit to India, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon Wednesday pressed his US counterpart James Jones for easing trade in dual-use technologies, which could be a key deliverable during the presidential visit in November.

Menon and Jones Wednesday discussed a host of regional issues, including the shifting power equations in Afghanistan and the US sanctions against Tehran which New Delhi feels can hurt its energy security.

Menon is understood to have pointed out that many Indian private and public sector entities continue to face technology sanctions even two years after India and the US signed a landmark nuclear deal in October 2008.

Jones assured that the US was looking at removing these sanctions, but has to find ways of doing so within the framework of US domestic laws, which contain stringent criteria governing the transfer of such technologies to other countries.

There could be some tangible movement in this direction ahead of Obama's visit, sources said.

Menon and Jones also took stock of steps needed to implement the civilian nuclear deal. Jones sought an update on the passage of the the civil nuclear liability bill, which makes the operator of an atomic plant exclusively liable in the event of a nuclear accident. The bill, currently pending before a parliamentary committee, is a prerequisite before US nuclear firms can begin business with India.

Jones arrived in India Tuesday night on a two-day visit to lay the groundwork for Obama's visit, which was announced at the India-US strategic dialogue in Washington last month.

The two top security officials also discussed the fluid situation in Afghanistan against the backdrop of reports of Pakistan influencing a power-sharing deal with Taliban elements who are inimical to India's interests.

Jones briefed Menon on the US' strategy and lauded India's multi-faceted humanitarian reconstruction work in the violence-torn country, said the sources.

On Iran, the two sides did not see eye to eye, with India conveying its objections to unilateral US sanctions, which were imposed after another round of UN sanctions.

Last week, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, without naming the US, pointed out that the "extraterritorial nature of certain unilateral sanctions" can have "a direct and adverse impact" on India's energy security and advocated dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff.