Singh in Washington

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pays an official visit to the US. Undoubtedly, Singh's three-day visit, which began yesterday (July 18), is a very significant development in terms of US-Indian relations, as well as global politics.

India leading the Nonaligned Movement during the Cold War was against the US and has since been trying to develop close and strong relations with US for the last few years, and the US has affirmatively responded the rapprochement moves from India, which is one of the Asian rising giants. In short, both countries leaving aside their former positions move towards closer positions with each other.

As a result of this, US-Indian relations develop on many fields and reach new dimensions today. Prime Minister Singh's last visit aims for increasing these developments further and hopes to sign new agreements under the context and upgrading dual relations.

There are 16 agreements to be signed within the general framework of Singh's visit. Beside these agreements, it is known that from now on, Singh will officially demand US aid and support on two significant topics, which are aid for India on civilian nuclear technology and support for India's candidacy for permanent membership at the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

As you may well know, India with Germany, Brazil, and Japan is a member of the group known as G-4 that demands permanent membership to the UN Security Council. The US do not generally perceive the G-4's demands positively; however, it supports only Japan's permanent membership. India, on the other hand, is insistent on becoming a permanent member despite the US attitude and Prime Minister Singh will try to persuade the US to support its membership during his visit despite everything.

The second topic is the energy demand, deriving from an increasing Indian need for US civilian nuclear technology. India wants to share the recent technological developments that the US leads in the field and to apply these techniques to its own civilian nuclear program.

India is a country with a gradually increasing energy need and it pays tremendous efforts to guarantee fulfillment of this need from now on, as we mentioned before. India can provide only three percent of its total energy needs from nuclear energy; however, it plans to increase this small percentage to 25 percent as of 2050. Therefore, India needs US nuclear technology. The US, on the other side, are reluctant to transfer its nuclear technology to India. The American attitude mainly derives from India already being a military nuclear power and the fear of taking the civilian nuclear technology and transferring into military areas. Furthermore, even if the US accepts the transfer of civilian nuclear technology, this will set a condition as well. This condition is undoubtedly related to India's withdrawal from an agreement on a pipeline and natural gas purchasing that is planned to be signed with Iran. It is known that Iran plans to sell natural gas to India through a giant pipeline that will reach India via Pakistan. A final decision is due on the four-million dollar gigantic natural gas pipeline project, of which the negotiations have been ongoing for the last few years. The US strongly warned India against making an agreement with Iran regarding natural gas and will undoubtedly reiterate its warning to Prime Minister Singh in Washington. Consequently, Iran's shadow will also be upon the Bush-Singh summit.

Consider this; India attempts to approach the US and develop relations to better their interests; however, Iran's shadow will taint this demand. How does Iran use its energy policies? It is very interesting and meaningful, isn't it?