The India-US civil nuclear deal Friday cleared its first global test as the 35-member board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) unanimously approved the India-specific safeguards agreement, a key step towards readmitting New Delhi into the privileged world of nuclear commerce.
The 35-member IAEA board meeting lasted nearly four hours with an exhaustive discussion on different aspects of the safeguards agreement that aims at bringing 14 Indian nuclear power reactors under international safeguards over the next few years.
Batting vigorously for the India-specific safeguards agreement, IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei said it conformed to “all the legal requirements” of his agency.
There was an attempt by some countries like Pakistan to force a vote in the IAEA on the India safeguards pact, but in the end India’s impeccable nuclear non-proliferation record prevailed as the board approved the historic pact unanimously.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today welcomed IAEA’s approval of the safeguards agreement as a “milestone” in India’s cooperation with the IAEA and the international community in peaceful uses of atomic energy and especially thanked the US and the UN nuclear watchdog chief for their backing.
India now looks forward to “clean and unconditional” exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group which will meet on August 21-22 to consider changing guidelines to allow New Delhi to have civil nuclear cooperation with the world.
“I am delighted to hear that the IAEA Board of Governors has decided today, by consensus, to approve the India-specific Safeguards Agreement,” Singh, who is here to attend the SAARC Summit, said in a statement soon after the news came from Vienna.
He expressed gratitude to the IAEA Board of Governors, India’s “partners and friends abroad and in particular to the US, for making this important step in the IAEA possible.”
Tuesday, February 17, 2026