The 35-member IAEA board meeting lasted nearly four hours with an exhaustive discussion on different aspects of the safeguards agreement that aims at bringing 14 Indian nuclear power reactors under international safeguards over the next few years.
Batting vigorously for the India-specific safeguards agreement, IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei said it conformed to \u201call the legal requirements\u201d of his agency.
There was an attempt by some countries like Pakistan to force a vote in the IAEA on the India safeguards pact, but in the end India\u2019s impeccable nuclear non-proliferation record prevailed as the board approved the historic pact unanimously.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today welcomed IAEA\u2019s approval of the safeguards agreement as a \u201cmilestone\u201d in India\u2019s cooperation with the IAEA and the international community in peaceful uses of atomic energy and especially thanked the US and the UN nuclear watchdog chief for their backing.
India now looks forward to \u201cclean and unconditional\u201d exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group which will meet on August 21-22 to consider changing guidelines to allow New Delhi to have civil nuclear cooperation with the world.
\u201cI am delighted to hear that the IAEA Board of Governors has decided today, by consensus, to approve the India-specific Safeguards Agreement,\u201d Singh, who is here to attend the SAARC Summit, said in a statement soon after the news came from Vienna.
He expressed gratitude to the IAEA Board of Governors, India\u2019s \u201cpartners and friends abroad and in particular to the US, for making this important step in the IAEA possible.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"