PRESSING INDIA ON NSSP PHASE II

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