Next U.S. vote on India nuclear deal may be December

[Ron Burgundy]

Reuters - The United States moved a step closer to adopting a landmark nuclear cooperation deal with India, but New Delhi was guarded on Friday saying key conditions still needed to be addressed.

The U.S. legislature gave an overwhelming 85-12 approval to the controversial deal late on Thursday, which Washington's envoy to New Delhi said was "perhaps the most important day" for relations between the once-estranged democracies.

India applauded the long-awaited Senate approval -- a major but not final step in a process that will help it meet the soaring energy needs of its booming economy -- but insisted that the final version needed to stick to the original pact.

"This undoubtedly reflects the very broad bipartisan support which this initiative enjoys," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a statement.

"We now expect that the final version of the legislation ... should adhere as closely as possible to the understandings incorporated" in the original agreements between the two countries in July 2005 and March 2006, he said.

The deal, seen as a symbol of the blossoming relationship between the world's only superpower and the emerging Asian giant, aims to overturn a three-decade U.S. ban on trade in nuclear fuel and equipment with India and end New Delhi's nuclear isolation.

IRAN CLAUSE

Thursday's vote approved changes in U.S. law to allow nuclear cooperation with India, which has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The House of Representatives had voted last July.

The bill now needs to be voted jointly by the two houses of the U.S. Congress after they reconcile the separate legislation they have approved, followed by approvals from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Washington sought to address India's concerns and reassure New Delhi that it would continue to press Congress to avoid changes in the pact that India sees as attempts to curb its nuclear programme and has refused to accept.

Congress aims to complete work on the bill in early December but there are worries that a clause approved by Senate, requiring President George W. Bush to certify that India is "fully and actively" participating in efforts to contain its old friend Iran's nuclear programme, could cause problems.

Still, supporters are optimistic the bills can be reconciled and given final passage before the "lame duck" Republican-led Congress surrenders power to the Democrats in January.

"We know there are some provisions regarding reporting and other things that are sensitive," David Mulford, Washington's envoy to New Delhi, told reporters.

"I have no doubt that the administration would continue as up till now ... that the bill conforms with the agreement between the two countries," he said, adding that some of the provisions were not binding.

PILLARS OF SECURITY

A senior Congressman in Washington echoed those views.

"I am confident that we can now work closely with our colleagues in the House to get this important measure to the president as swiftly as possible," Senate Majority leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said.

The Indian establishment was jittery about the fate of the bill in the "lame duck" session of Congress, particularly after the Democrats, strong supporters of non-proliferation, swept elections to the chambers this month.

Failure in the session would have meant the deal would have to go through the approval process all over again.

Bush and his administration argue nuclear cooperation is essential to relations between the world's largest democracies that will be pillars of security in the 21st century.

Opponents contend the agreement harms U.S. security by allowing New Delhi to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal, by fostering an arms race in Asia among India and nuclear rivals Pakistan and China, and by undermining decades of U.S. non-proliferation policy.

Daryl Kimball of the Arms Control Association and a leading opponent of the nuclear deal called the Senate bill a "great mistake for security and non-proliferation policy," adding that the bill still faced substantial hurdles.

But Indian analysts and lobby groups were upbeat.

"The issue is more about building trust because that has been a key factor bedeviling relations between the two countries," said Robinder Sachdev, head of the Indian chapter of the U.S. Indian Political Action Committee, an ethnic-based lobby group.

"In that sense, this is an awesome development."