PM meets Obama, talks civil nuclear cooperation

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama held talks in Bali on the sidelines of ASEAN Summit on Friday. This was the their first meeting since Obama's visit to India in 2010.

According to the sources, Singh and Obama held discussions on nuclear civil cooperation and future bilateral ties.

Addressing the press in Bali Obama said, "This is an outstanding occasion to discuss how we can work together not only bilaterally but at multilateral level also."

The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan was also discussed during the meeting.

Singh said, "There are no irritants whatsoever in the Indo-US relations in working together."

Ahead of the meeting, India asserted that its domestic laws with regard to nuclear liability and compensation will have to prevail and any contention otherwise would not be realistic after the Fukushima incident.

Singh added, "India and US have made progress in every area including civil nuclear cooperation, since President Obama's visit to New Delhi in November last year."

Singh will also meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao later on Friday.

The sources said the rules should address concerns that any foreign company could have as these make it clear that liability cannot be unlimited or unending.

They underlined that law of the land will have to apply and the notification of the rules only clarifies the situation with regard to payment of compensation to victims in the case of a nuclear accident without waiting for the legal procedures to come into play.

The rules make it clear that a supplier will be liable in the case of a mishap on account of faulty material but the liability cannot be unlimited and for an unending period.

Noting that these rules deal with the contract with regard to liability, the sources said that to the extent that these do not permit unlimited and unending liability, it addresses the concerns that any foreign company might have.

The sources also insisted that the Nuclear Liability Act was compliant with the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC).

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