India and UN nuclear watchdog to start talks on safeguards agreement

The United Nations atomic watchdog and the Indian Government have agreed to start consultations on framing a safeguards agreement that would place the South Asian country’s civilian nuclear programme under UN observation.

The agreement was reached after Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), met with Anil Kakodkar, Chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Commission, in Vienna today.

Members of the IAEA Secretariat will hold technical meetings later this week in Vienna, where the agency is based, with an Indian Government team to start the consultations.

In March this year, Dr. ElBaradei welcomed the announcement that India – which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) – and the United States had reached a deal on nuclear cooperation.