As a boost to bilateral civil nuclear energy cooperation, India and the US have signed an agreement to build six American nuclear power plants in India. Both the countries On Sunday, said this in a joint statement that was issued at the conclusion of the 9th round of India-US Strategic Security Dialogue which was co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and the US under secretary of state for arms control and international security Mr Andrea Thompson. “They committed to strengthen bilateral security and civil nuclear cooperation, including the establishment of six U.S. nuclear power plants in India”, read the joint statement.

An agreement was signed by India and the US in October 2008 for cooperation in civil nuclear energy sector. The deal has given stimulus to bilateral ties between both the countries. The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was a major aspect of the deal. The NSG gave a special waiver to India which enabled it to sign cooperation agreements with a dozen countries. After waiver by the NSG, India signed civil nuclear cooperation agreements with the US, France, Russia, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Sri Lanka, the UK, Japan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and South Korea.

On Wednesday, the United States reaffirmed its strong support to India’s early membership in the 48-member NSG. During the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on a wide range of global security and non-proliferation challenges and reaffirmed their commitment to work together to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

