India leader asks partnership with U.S. in nuclear energy

WASHINGTON – India is a resolute U.S. partner in the war on terrorism and a responsible nuclear power, India’s prime minister told Congress on Tuesday as he promoted new nuclear cooperation between the two countries.

Manmohan Singh, in an address to a joint meeting of Congress, spoke broadly of how the world’s oldest and largest democracies, once estranged by Cold War politics, were “natural partners.”

There is “a convergence in our perceptions of a rapidly transforming global environment, bringing us much closer together now than at any time in the past,” Singh said, mentioning collaboration ranging from developing high-tech industries to helping tsunami victims.

But it was his remarks on nuclear energy cooperation that drew the most attention, coming a day after President Bush offered U.S. help in India’s civilian nuclear program.

For the United States to help with India’s civilian power program, Congress would have to approve changes in U.S. law. Objections are expected, given India’s refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

India exploded its first nuclear device in 1974. Three more blasts in 1998 led to sanctions by the United States, Japan and Germany.