India asks US to ease dual-use tech restrictions

Washington: Terming the technology control regime "anachronistic", India has asked the US to ease restrictions on supply of dual use nuclear and space technologies, which it said were needed to realise its economic potential.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is on a visit to America, called restrictions on dual-use technologies "anachronistic", adding "If India is to play its part as an engine of growth and factor of stability in Asia, it should be in the interest of the US and others that such regimes (Technology control regimes) are liberalized as quickly as possible."

"If indeed India is to realise its economic potential, India needs alternative sources of energy. Foremost among those available is nuclear energy. India has indigenously developed technologies for nuclear energy. But, as in many other areas of dual use or high technology, India faces serious impediments of access to materials and components," the Defence Minister said, addressing the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace .

Taking a positive view of the Indo-US NSSP and the energy dialogue to address some of these restrictions, he said their easing would "impact India favourably in the next 2-3 decades". Speaking on India's decision to go nuclear, Mukherjee said the nuclear tests were in response to "an increasingly untenable security environment".


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