NEW DELHI, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The fully-packed, high-profile visit to India by the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended Monday mid-night, with the announcement by the U.S. and India of the inking of some key strategic pacts between the two countries.
New Delhi and Washington have reached an understanding on the End-User Verification Agreement, which gives rights to the latter's experts to inspect hi-tech military hardware sold to India, and the most important Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, two pacts with deep strategic impact on the region and the whole Asia as well.
Political analysts here say that both pacts assume significance, particularly in the post-George W. Bush era, which allowed and facilitated the Indian-U.S. nuclear deal.
Obama dispatched his top diplomat to India to ensure that India sign both pacts, which would mark a new beginning in the relationship between the two countries against the background of an evolving South Asia and Afghanistan, said the analysts.
"While the End User Verification Agreement (EUVA) will pave the way for greater defense cooperation between India and the U.S., the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty will allow the countries to move ahead towards a non-discriminatory, internationally, and effectively verifiable pact which also pledges cooperation to prevent nuclear terrorism. This has significance given the presence of Taliban in Pakistan, who are also eyeing the nukes," political scientist, Professor Ajay Singh, said.
Once signed, the generic EUVA would be applicable to all future defense equipment purchases that India would make from the U.S., he added.
"It's mandatory under the U.S. laws, EUVA envisages physical inspection of military hardware that Washington sells to New Delhi,to verify if the equipment was being used for the purpose it was sold so as to prevent its misuse. India had said it would not allow intrusive inspection of the equipment at its bases but the deadlock was over the U.S. laws making it mandatory. But, Madame Clinton came to ensure that India say 'yes' to the deal and it did," said Mumbai-based psephologist K.K. Gupta.
Clinton and Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna also "agreed to move ahead in the Conference on Disarmament towards a non-discriminatory, internationally and effectively verifiable Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty", said a joint statement issued after the talks.
Political scientists claim that this marks another significant step in the U.S. concept of making the world a "safer place" with the aim of preventing nuclear terrorism.
Both countries also decided to cooperate to prevent nuclear terrorism and address challenges of global nuclear proliferation, the joint statement said.
"Both the countries also inked the Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) which would enable launching of civil or non-commercial satellites containing U.S. components on Indian space launch vehicles. Since the components and satellites will have to be integrated with Indian Space Research Organization's launch vehicles, the TSA will provide for monitoring by the U.S. side to ensure against diversion or misuse of equipment," said political analyst R.K. Dutta.
Besides these, the two countries agreed to cooperate in their fight against terrorism and climate change during Clinton's five-day tour to India.
But India will have to wait and watch the implications of all the pacts, said the analysts, who say time only will tell who would benefit from these pacts.
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