United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, describing the US-India civil nuclear initiative as "one of the keys" to the strategic partnership between Washington and New Delhi, has said the deal can be consummated by year's end.
She exhorted the business lobby and the Indian-American community to once again lend their hand to push it through Congress.
Delivering the keynote speech at the 32nd anniversary summit of the US-India Business Council, Rice said, 'I know there are many of you in this room who have worked very hard with us to support the overwhelming, bipartisan passage of the Hyde Act -- and I want to thank you for the role you've played."
She said the enabling legislation to facilitate the deal -- known as the Hyde Act -- that was adopted by both the House and Senate with resounding margins last year and signed into law by President Bush in December was "a huge step forward.'
She said that "wrapping up this agreement will open new doors of cooperation for us in the nuclear field," and recalled that "I can remember that in many quarters, people did not think this possible."
When asked if she believed the 123 Agreement, which remains in limbo, can be completed in the next two months, Rice continued to stick to her prediction of the year's end and argued that the protracted negotiations that have bogged down this particular accord would ultimately be resolved because of the commitment of both leaders of the United States and India. "I feel that we have strong commitment on the part of both governments because we have strong commitment on the part of our leaders," she said.
"When President Bush and Prime Minister Singh went down this road of trying to break the barriers to civil nuclear cooperation, they knew that it would be historic. They knew that it would be path-breaking and they therefore knew that it would be difficult," she said.
But Rice cautioned that "I would note it's not the last step. We still have other work to do with the Nuclear Suppliers Group and so forth. But I cannot tell you how much the world is watching to see if we can complete this, because if we can we are on our way to a tremendous future not just in this area but in many other areas as well."
"And I myself am dedicated to getting it done and we need to get it done by the end of the year," she added.
She denied any implication that Democrats in Congress had not been provided with all of the facts of the 123 Agreement said that "we have had very good bipartisan cooperation on this work going forward and on this agreement going forward."
"I do not believe this is an initiative that is Republican or Democrat. I do think that there is bipartisan support. Part of it is that many Americans wherever they come from, have reason and have had the opportunity to engage principally through Indian-Americans the energy and the vitality and the contribution of India to the broadest range of human knowledge," she said, and cited the example of Silicon Valley and "the contributions of Indian-Americans there."