US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI1905

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 001905 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO NRC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, ENRG, ETTC, PARM, IN, NSSP 
SUBJECT: PRESSING INDIA ON NSSP PHASE II 
 
REF: A. NEW DELHI 1751 
 
     B. NEW DELHI 1752 
     C. STATE 38837 
 
Classified By: DCM Robert O. Blake, Jr. for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary: In the absence of MEA Additional Secretary 
Meera Shankar, who is on extended travel for 
non-proliferation and C/T dialogues in Australia and the UK, 
PolCouns flagged the need for progress on Indian export 
control legislation to keep the Next Steps in Strategic 
Partnership (NSSP) initiative moving in separate March 7 
meetings with MEA Joint Secretary (Americas) S. Jaishankar 
and MEA Acting Joint Secretary, Disarmament and International 
Security (DISA), Venu Rajamony.  PolCouns and Poloff 
encouraged GOI interlocutors to use a US non-paper describing 
the quid-pro-quos in Phases Two and Three (Ref C) to help 
overcome skepticism among some officials in India's civil 
nuclear and space establishments about how India will benefit 
from the NSSP.  Neither GOI official responded substantively, 
but both reaffirmed the GOI commitment to the export control 
understandings attached to the NSSP.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (C) In a meeting with DISA Acting Joint Secretary 
Rajamony, PolCouns highlighted the upcoming visit of 
Secretary Rice as an opportunity to define where Indo-US 
 
SIPDIS 
relations should go in the coming months and as a precursor 
to a possible POTUS visit later this year.  PolCouns 
encouraged the GOI to use the impetus of these visits to 
overcome current bureaucratic obstacles and advance our 
common NSSP objectives.  PolCouns noted that the US has asked 
to see India's draft export control legislation before the 
next NSSP Implementation Group meeting is scheduled. 
PolCouns also raised several onward proliferation cases (Refs 
A and B). 
 
3.  (C) PolCouns reiterated Ref C points in a separate 
meeting with J/S (Americas) Jaishankar.  Reviewing his recent 
meetings in Washington, Jaishankar underscored the importance 
of US flexibility toward India's civil nuclear program, and 
stressed that the GOI does not want to renegotiate the NSSP 
quid-pro-quos.  On the issue of nuclear fuel supply, 
Jaishankar stated that he thought a "liberal interpretation" 
of the NSG rules "is within the realm of possibility."  On 
matters where US assistance to India's civil nuclear program 
is constrained by US legislation, he asked that "if the US 
can't be helpful, at least don't be unhelpful" (i.e., by not 
allowing other countries to assist).  Jaishankar was 
optimistic that a bilateral Energy Dialogue could be a forum 
for the GOI to explain the full range of India's energy 
needs, adding that NRC Commissioner Merrifield had already 
done much to promote this idea in Washington after his recent 
visit to India. 
 
4.  (C) In response to PolCouns' query about how the GOI 
might capitalize on the Secretary's upcoming trip to New 
Delhi to keep the NSSP moving, Jaishankar said that the GOI 
is carefully considering its approach to her visit.  Some in 
the GOI did not "properly understand the entirety of the 
Indo-US relationship," he opined, adding his hope that these 
attitudes could change in the course of other Cabinet-level 
visits expected over the next few months. 
MULFORD