US President George W. Bush on Wednesday urged India to separate its nuclear energy and weapons programmes to ensure the United States can help the world's most populous democracy meet its electricity needs, DPA reported. Bush's remarks at the Asia Society in Washington came one week before he travels to India and Pakistan and as US and Indian officials worked to iron out the details of a plan that would foster nuclear energy cooperation between the two countries. "India first needs to bring its civilian energy programmes under the same international safeguards that govern nuclear power programmes in other countries," Bush said. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reached an agreement in July that would promote the sharing of nuclear technology between the two countries, but the Bush administration, under pressure from Congress, wants to assure the assistance cannot be used for nuclear weapons. US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, the lead negotiator with India on nuclear cooperation, recently said that 90 of the negotiations were complete. But it's unclear whether a deal will be reached before Bush arrival in India next week.
