Rediff.com

Washington, Jan 6: United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday said that Washington 'very much' wants India to have access to civilian nuclear technology, a position, she said, is also supported by other members of the nuclear suppliers group as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Speaking at the State Department Correspondents Association's inaugural newsmaker breakfast on January 5 in Fairmont Hotel in Washington DC Thursday afternoon, Rice said that the prospect of India getting civil nuclear energy is welcomed not just by the US but by the other countries of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

"In fact, Mohammed ElBaradei (IAEA chief) himself has said publicly that he thinks it is a good thing that we move in this direction with India. So, this could be an enormously important step forward," Rice said in response to a question.

'National interest is at stake'

However, Rice did not go into the details of the ongoing negotiations with the government of India on the issue, except to say that Washington has made it clear that there is a need for a 'separation plan' between civilian and military technology.

"We have been very clear that while we want India very much to have access to civil nuclear technology, that we also want to do this in a way that strengthens non-proliferation," she said.

"I just want to underscore (that) a lot of non-proliferation people, including the head of the IAEA himself, thinks it's a very good idea that we work (with India) in this direction. But the specifics, the details of how we get there, are still being worked out," Rice said.