The Obama administration is seeking to move beyond a U.S.-India civilian nuclear power agreement to work with New Delhi to strengthen the global non-proliferation system, a senior U.S. diplomat said Monday. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said the 2005 nuclear power agreement allowing India to import nuclear technology after a 33-year ban gave both countries a duty to improve the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) system. “Both the United States and India have the responsibility to help to craft a strengthened NPT regime to foster safe, affordable nuclear power to help the globe's energy and environment needs, while assuring against the spread of nuclear weapons,” Steinberg said at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. India, which is not a signatory to the NPT, is “in the position to look at the kinds of commitments it can make to be part of an international approach,” Steinberg said. India, Pakistan, and Israel are the only countries that have never signed the NPT.
