India Press Releases

Remarks by Ambassador David C. Mulford At a Press Conference At the Pink City Press Club, Jaipur, India

September 22, 2006

(Begin transcript)

Ambassador Mulford:   Good morning, everybody.  Mrs. Mulford and I are very pleased to be back in Jaipur, which we have visited a number of times.  In fact, I met in this room with many of you a couple of years ago when I was here, maybe less, maybe 18 months ago, and we had a very energetic press conference, I remember -- lots of questions and even some speeches coming from you.  What I would propose to do today is just make a couple of remarks and then to open the floor to your questions.

Obviously in the past two years, I think, you have been watching a very important phenomenon --which is the strengthening relationship between the United States and India -- which has really blossomed in the past couple of years into a major strategic relationship for both countries.  This has taken the form of closer cooperation in virtually every area of activity, whether it is science, space, agriculture, military exchanges, possible defense sales, the political arena, the CEO Forum in the economic area, conversations that we have had on wider economic issues.  We have signed an Open Skies Agreement, which has introduced one of the most liberal Open Skies Agreements in the world between the United States and India, whereby it is now possible for Indian and American airlines to fly to each other’s countries on a completely open basis to as many cities, as many times during the week as they like, and setting fares open for air cargo, open for small package services, and so on.  These are just some of the major steps forward.

We also had a visit by the President of the United States last March which was a very successful visit.  He spent one day in Delhi and another day in Hyderabad.  At that time we completed negotiations on a central element of the relationship, which is the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, which is regarded in India, as I understand it, as the most important diplomatic initiative of the last 50 years. 

last March which was a very successful visit.He spent one day in and another day in .At that time we completed negotiations on a central element of the relationship, which is the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, which is regarded in , as I understand it, as the most important diplomatic initiative of the last 50 years.

This agreement, when it is finally put in place, will normalize the civil nuclear relationship, civil nuclear activities between the United States and India.  It has been agreed in principle between the two governments.  The agreement requires a change in law by the United States Congress and that process is ongoing now.  And I can answer more questions about this later, but this is a very very significant agreement for a number of reasons.  One, it will bring India back into the global community in the civil nuclear field.  India has been isolated for many years because it is not a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and there were sanctions some years ago developed.  This is aimed to bring India into the global non-proliferation architecture, to acknowledge India’s position in the world, and to normalize civil nuclear relations.  The purpose of that, among others, is to allow India to develop its own sources of civil nuclear energy more quickly and more comprehensively, and therefore to raise its use of civil nuclear power for civilian energy.

At the moment India, about 2.8 percent of your electricity is supplied by nuclear.  The government has in mind raising that to 20 percent in the next years, but in order to do this it is going to be necessary for India to be able to import technology, capital, et cetera, and to bring in the kind of relationships which would permit the growth of this industry, thus reducing India’s dependency on oil and gas imported from outside.

In the military area we’ve made very very important strides.  There’s been a multiplicity of joint exercises in the Air field, in the Army, Navy.  These are ongoing.  They’re happening all the time.  There have been exchanges of officers and visits by senior members back and forth.  There’s a Defense Cooperation Agreement signed by Minister Mukherjee last June to advance cooperation between our two militaries.

These are just a few of the things that have been done.

Also at the time of the President’s visit, there was the introduction of the Agriculture Knowledge Initiative which both countries are putting money into and this is to advance the use of new technologies in agriculture to improve productivity and to assist India in advancing its own agricultural needs.

The United States was associated with India in the 1970s, its so-called Green Revolution, when productivity was increased in India, and India became self-sufficient in food, but there is a need for a new generation of cooperation now because, as I think many of you know, water usage has been very heavy, fertilizer has in some cases been over-used, and people are concerned about the next phase of agriculture development.

So a group was formed to focus on technology.  We’re bringing in American universities, American companies, bringing them together with your own outstanding research community and your own agricultural community to advance productivity once again in agriculture.

So finally, I just would mention that the United States continues to be the country of choice for Indian students who wish to study overseas.  We have 80,500 and some Indian students in America today.  This is the largest group of foreign students studying in America by a very large margin.  I think, as I remember, China is the second-ranked country but well behind the number of Indian students.  We have had record numbers of visas issued for Indian students.  The school year has just begun in the United States, and as far as I know, every single Indian student who needed to go over to a university was able to get a visa and was able to report to classes on time, so that’s a very active area between us.

I will now open for some questions from the floor.  Thank you very much.

Question:   Your Excellency, I am from Times Now.  We’d been asked to focus more on the Road Show, but since you’re here, I’ll just shoot a question.  After 9/11, the focus of the U.S. and India are the same, that is, fighting terrorism.  Reports say that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda are hiding in Pakistan.  So what is your government doing about it, despite Musharraf’s denials that intelligence is reporting him as being in Pakistan?

Ambassador Mulford:   The United States, as you know, remains committed to counter-terrorism around the world.  Terrorism is a major threat, we believe, and we regard all terrorist activity wherever it occurs any place in the world as unacceptable.  We have sought to address that problem cooperatively with other countries including India wherever terrorism shows its head.

Osama bin Laden, of course, is a major figure connected with 9/11, but also he’s symbolically a very important figure in the global war on terror.  President Bush has made it very clear that we will continue to search for and bring Osama bin Laden to justice.  That continues to be the goal of the United States, wherever he is.

Recently, as you’ve said, there are reports that he’s in Pakistan, but there have been reports that he’s in many different places and therefore these are just reports.  What’s important is that if and when he is located, the United States will do everything it can to bring him to justice.

I should say on the matter of the Road Show, this was a two-day activity here with many different events.  We’re very happy with the way the Road Show has gone.  I understand it’s had a lot of coverage.  It’s been a highly diverse group of activities ranging from theater to music to political outreach, economic discussions, and cultural events.  We’re very happy to have engaged in that, and we hope, indeed we feel that it’s been very welcome here and we’re very happy about that.

Question:   Your Excellency, I’m from NDTV, and I wanted to ask a question about the civil nuclear deal.  Is there a deadline, is time running out?

Ambassador Mulford:   I’m sorry, I didn’t get all of that.

Question:   [Inaudible] time is probably running out…

Ambassador Mulford:   What’s happening is that -- if I can take a moment and summarize what’s happened so that you can see how much has been accomplished.  In March, we reached agreement.  On your side, of course, the Prime Minister has placed the separation between strategic and civil nuclear in India before your Parliament.  That’s been debated.  There have been subsequent debates.  Even in August, the Prime Minister made a major statement to your Parliament on the civil nuclear agreement.

On our side, beginning in May, the legislation was advanced to the Congress.  We need to have a change in the law in order to move ahead.  The Congress studied the legislation and finally the two committees that have to do what we call “markup the legislation” and vote it out of committee, so that it can be looked at on the Floor of both the House and the Senate.  Both those committee markups were accomplished around the end of June or the first days of July.  In each case, in the House and the Senate, the marked up bills were voted out with a big majority in favor, made up of both Republicans and Democrats, so it has bipartisan support.

The House of Representatives has actually voted on the bill on the Floor at the end of July.  The vote was 359 for and 68 against.  So again, very strong support from both Republicans and Democrats.

In early August, the Congress adjourned for the summer vacation.  It came back in early September.  Our hope was the Senate would then vote this month on the Floor on its version of the bill.  We had hoped this vote would come this week.  In fact, we hoped it would come today.  But there have been a number of other competing pieces of legislation that have come up and we’re not entirely sure how this piece of legislation will be scheduled.

Our concern is to get that vote accomplished on the Floor of the Senate before October 4th when the Congress adjourns again for the mid-term elections, which are held in early November in the United States.

If the Senate passes the bill on the Floor, then there are two different bills, one from the House and one from the Senate, and they go to what we call a House/Senate Conference.  This is a private conference made up of selected Members of both the House and the Senate, and they will rationalize the two versions of the bill.  We hope this takes place either before October 4th, after the Senate has voted; or when the Congress comes back after the election for a short session, late November, early December.  We hope the conference would be convened then.

When the conference comes to a single bill, it goes back.  That’s passed by both Houses and then signed by the President.  At that point, the law is changed.

That has to be accomplished before the Senate adjourns at the end of the year.  Because in January, following the November elections, we have a new Congress.  If this legislation is not passed -- as I’ve described -- and processed, it will then have to start all over again in the new Congress; i.e., it will have to go back into the committees, get marked up, out on the Floor, into a conference.  So obviously this would have to start again in January/February.  It certainly would, but it would again take more time.  So time is running out in the sense of this Congress, but it’s not running out necessarily on the legislation change, because we’re committed to making this change.

Question:   General Musharraf has said that he will never allow U.S. troops into Pakistan to get bin Laden, how do you react to that?

Ambassador Mulford:   I don’t want to comment on what Mr. Musharraf has said or has not said.  We have a good relationship with Pakistan, and we have a good relationship with President Musharraf.  We’ve been successful in cooperating with Pakistan in the apprehension of terrorists over the past few years.  And also on the cooperation we’ve had for learning about terrorist plots such as the London plot recently uncovered.  So, one has to understand that we have a good working relationship with Pakistan.

I did notice this morning that the President indicated -- President Bush indicated -- that if Osama bin Laden was found in Pakistan the United States would expect to bring him to justice, and if necessary would participate in making that happen.

Question:   India TV.  How would you say [inaudible] from Pakistan?

Ambassador Mulford:   Can you repeat the last bit of that?

Question:   As you said, you have a good relationship with Pakistan and India and your country also share a good relationship. So how far will your country be willing to go to help India get Dawood from Pakistan?

Ambassador Mulford:   You’ve summarized the situation correctly.  We have a good relationship with both countries and we are committed to the war against terror.  One has to look at each case as it comes along.  You may know that we have offered assistance in India and on each occasion that there’s been bomb blasts here, we’ve offered cooperation and support from the FBI.  We have come out immediately against terrorist attacks in India.  The President has pushed very hard on Mr. Musharraf to address the question of the terrorist camps that are used sometimes to promote terrorism across borders.  The United States has certainly pushed very hard on that.  You may remember that at the time the President visited India he went to Pakistan afterwards and was strongly encouraging Pakistan to cooperate in the global war on terror and to cooperate with India.  I’m sure you’re aware that your Prime Minister and President Musharraf have reached agreement in Havana to introduce in their cooperative approach a mechanism that would be directed towards, as I understand it, examining and investigating acts of terrorism that occur in India.  This I think is an important step forward.  We’re very supportive of that.

So I think what we’re talking about here is cooperation among all countries, including the United States, Pakistan and India, to reduce this terrorist threat, wherever it occurs.  That’s the aim of the game.  We’ve worked as hard as we possibly can on that.

Question:   Why the US [inaudible]?

Ambassador Mulford:   Was your question why anti-US sentiments are growing in the Third World?

Question:   Yes.

Ambassador Mulford:   I think there’s a multiplicity of reasons for some of that.  Some of it obviously is tied up with the present views around the world among some countries on the question of Iraq and the invasion of Iraq and the subsequent violence that has continued to occur in Iraq.  I’m sure there are other reasons for adverse opinions on the United States coming from different directions.

There’s nothing new in this, although Iraq has generated a lot of very strong feeling.  And so have, from time to time, terrorist activities.  But in many cases -- if you look around and if you look at the public opinion surveys -- the fact that there’s a lot of press coverage and media coverage of opposition doesn’t mean that that opposition is as widespread as you might believe.  For example, in India the figures that have been done by international survey groups show a very strong support for America in India.  That support -- which has ranged as high as 71 percent, and more recently I think it was around 64 percent -- is aimed at the idea of America: American values, the ethos of America.  People may have a problem with American policies from time to time, but that is often separated by them from their general admiration of America.  So it is not as easy as your question would suggest to analyze that phenomenon.  Some American policies have obviously hit on very sensitive areas in some countries and it’s caused strong feelings of opposition.  On the other hand there continues to be widespread support for America, widespread admiration, and frankly, lots and lots and lots of people who continue to try to come to America to take advantage of what America has to offer, so that number isn’t dropping. That number continues to rise.

Question:   [Inaudible] The CTBT, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Ambassador Mulford:   I’m sorry, what was the question?

Question:   Mr Ambassador, The question from the gentleman was that when , during the previous administration and there was dialogue on the India-US cooperation there was a lot of pressure on India to sign the CTBT and subsequently the former Deputy Secretary of State, Assistant Secretary of State had mentioned that India was facing a lot of threats.  The question he wants to ask is, do you believe India is no longer facing those kind of threats?

Ambassador Mulford:   First of all, I hope you understand that I’m a member of the Bush administration and not the Clinton administration, and I’ve been here two and a half years.  The President of the United States, George Bush, very early in his first administration identified India as a country with whom the United States should develop a key strategic relationship. That was a very new departure, because in the past we had not had a key strategic relationship.  We had had a long relationship going back over 50 years which was up and down from time to time, but you could hardly characterize it as a key strategic relationship.  Mr. Bush has a very special view of India.  He regards India as one of the most important countries in the world as we look to the 21st Century, and a country with which the United States needs and wishes to have a strong relationship.  Moreover, the President has said that he wishes to assist India to reach its goal of emerging as a world power, a major world power in the 21st Century.

Once that was established, then we began to address the key issues, one of which was this question of India’s status in the nuclear community.  The fact that India was outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty system, and was therefore isolated and needed to develop its own civil nuclear energy industry in order to meet its long-term energy problems, in order in turn to achieve its goal of annual economic growth that would propel India into a position of major power status.  That is the scene that we are addressing.  The means for addressing it has been to say to India:  we are willing to normalize civil nuclear relations with you, which includes not only changing our law but making an exception for India because you have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, making an exception for you so that you can reopen your industry to the world.  And in addition to changing our law we are seeking the Nuclear Suppliers Group of nations, the 45 countries that together enforce the isolation of India, to change their rules likewise, to permit dealing with India in the civil nuclear sector.

Finally, we have indicated that we will accept an India-specific safeguards agreement to be negotiated between India on the one hand and the IAEA on the other hand as the basis for the application of safeguards under this new agreement.  I have already described what the agreement does.  The important point here -- and I’m going to emphasize this very specifically -- this was and is a negotiation on civil nuclear energy.  It is not a negotiation on India’s strategic program.  We have not been negotiating that.  We have acknowledged that India is a leading country in terms of advanced nuclear technology, but in fact what we’re doing is de facto accepting the situation in India as it is today.

Question:  Ambassador will you have such a proposal for Pakistan?

Ambassador Mulford:   This proposal that was made by the President was made only for India.  The law that is being changed in the United States is being changed only for India.  It is an India-specific change. There is no proposal to offer this kind of exception or cooperation to any other country, including Pakistan.

Question:   What is the reason why?

Ambassador Mulford:   The reason why is -- first of all, there are several reasons.  One, India has a long history of developing its own industry internally without either inward or outward proliferation.  Secondly, India has itself a completely secure record as a non-proliferator in the nuclear field.  Thirdly, we believe that India is a very important country, too important to be left outside of the global architecture.  Fourthly, we believe that if India is brought into the system that its presence will strengthen the system, not weaken it, and that it will advance the cause of nuclear non-proliferation around the world.  So India stands as a unique player and has been offered a unique exception by the United States in the civil and nuclear area.

Question:   Your Excellency, How do you rate Shashi Tharoor , the Indian candidate for the UN Secretary General post? And what is your American reading on it?

Ambassador Mulford:   I’m not rating or giving odds on any candidate.  I’m not in that business.  The United States is waiting.  It has not come out formally in favor of any one candidate.  We are assessing all the candidates.  We are meeting them all and watching to see how the groups form to support these candidates before we make a decision.  So we are still in a position of not having declared ourselves.  Obviously he’s an outstanding candidate in many ways, but we have not endorsed anybody yet.

Any other questions?

Question:   Your excellency the former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh hails from Rajasthan. There are some allegations coming that America was involved in removing him as External Affairs minister. Would you like to comment on that?

Ambassador Mulford:   My comment is very clear, that the United States has not been involved in any way with regard to what has taken place with Mr. Natwar Singh.  That is entirely a matter between him and the United Nations and the Indian government.  The United States has not been involved.

Question:   Thank you very much.  We thank the Americans [inaudible].  Thank you.

Ambassador Mulford:   Thank you.

(End transcript)

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