NEW YORK: US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Oct 9 that the formal signing of the US-India nuclear cooperation agreement (by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Oct 10) paves the way for closer economic and political ties between the world's two largest democracies.

Ros-Lehtinen, who was an original co-sponsor of the Henry J. Hyde US-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act, introduced in the final days of the legislative session a House companion bill that paved the way for implementation of the nuclear agreement. In pressing for the agreement's entry into force, Ros-Lehtinen praised the accord as benefiting both allies while strengthening counter-proliferation measures. "This is not an agreement which we would enter into with just any country," Ros-Lehtinen said.

"Stronger economic, scientific, diplomatic, and military cooperation between the US and India is in the national interest of both countries and reflects our increasingly close relationship with this important democratic ally." The agreement demonstrates India's commitment to cooperate with the US on efforts to halt the proliferation to rogue states and others of material and technology that could be used to construct nuclear weapons.

In addition, newly implemented safeguards will expand the International Atomic Energy Agency's authority to monitor Indian nuclear facilities. "In addition to helping India provide energy to its rapidly growing population, this agreement will strengthen the emerging alliance between the United States and India that I am confident will prove to be one of the principal guarantors of the security and prosperity of both countries in this new century."