US President George W. Bush signed the nuclear cooperation deal
with India into law on Monday to allow the United States to provide
nuclear reactors and fuel to the ally for the first time in 30
years.
"The relationship between the United States and India has never
been more vital and this bill will help us meet the energy and
security challenges of the 21st century," Bush said at the
bill-signing ceremony held in the White House.
Bush made the move after the Congress approved the controversial
nuclear cooperation deal between the United States and India on
Dec. 9.
The nuclear agreement, which was negotiated in March by
President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, would
lift a decades-long ban on nuclear sales to India, in part, because
of the country's refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty.
The arrangement requires that the fuel shipments to be for
civilian use only, yet opponents of the bill said that the
deliveries of nuclear fuel would free up India's domestic stocks of
nuclear materials for its weapons program.
(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2006）
