The United States on Thursday again blamed "some technical issues" for delays in a nuclear energy deal with India but insisted it was still "committed" to the unprecedented agreement. "I can't give you a sense on the final timing, but, look, the government's clearly committed to it," White House spokesman Tony Snow said as negotiators from both sides held talks in New Delhi.
Chief US negotiator Nicholas Burns met Indian officials there to kick off talks on how civilian nuclear cooperation would work between the two countries, giving India access to long-denied Western atomic technology.
"Any time you have an agreement this big and this ambitious, you're going to run into some technical issues that make progress a little more halting than you'd like it to be. But we're still committed to its success," said Snow.
He did not elaborate on what the "issues" were.
The deal will reverse three decades of US sanctions on nuclear trade with India, even though New Delhi has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and tested nuclear weapons in 1998.
The pact requires India to separate nuclear facilities for civilian and military use and set up a regime of international inspections for the former in return for technology and nuclear fuel supplies.
"We understand that the civil nuclear agreement not only is important, but it's also a template for dealing with other countries," said Snow.
