On the very first day of the meeting of the 45-nation grouping on Thursday, there were demands for changes in the revised draft that the US had prepared following failure to achieve consensus at the August 21-22 parleys.
As soon as the NSG reconvened for the second day, at 9.30 am (1 am IST) on Friday, work started on redrafting of the waiver to accommodate the concerns of the sceptic countries while ensuring that no clauses were incorporated which would bind India.
The grouping broke for short recesses during which the US and other countries holding intense discussions with those countries which had reservations particularly with regard to testing and transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies to India.
China, which had remained silent so far, too raised questions over some aspects of the draft.
Turning point
The major turning point came with the issuance of the statement by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in which he talked about India’s abiding commitment to strengthening the nonproliferation system and unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing.
That statement went down well among the NSG members including the sceptic countries who saw a lot of their concerns being addressed through it.
The revised draft was redrafted on Friday afternoon and sent for approval from the US in consultation with India. The draft came back at 1 am (4.30 am IST ). Till then, the diplomats were wailing time.
The diplomats from NSG countries held discussions over the draft for an hour before dispersing to meet again on Saturday.
Austria, New Zealand, Ireland and Switzerland maintained reservations. They were joined by China which raised some questions with regard to non-proliferation.
The Indian delegation led by Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon worked with these countries in early morning, making all-out efforts to ally their concerns.
One by one, sceptic countries started coming around to support the significant initiative.
The Chinese told the Indian delegation at 7 am that they will back the initiative. Austria was the last country to say yes, leading to a consensus.
