Friday, April 21 2006 10:12 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The United States has said that India's own moratorium on nuclear testing was one of the reasons why the civilian nuclear agreement was signed between the two countries and that it looked forward to the moratorium continuing.

"The Indian decision to have a moratorium on nuclear testing is one of the basis on which we think we should can undertake this civilian nuclear cooperation," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher told reporters here yesterday (Apr 20, 2006).

"I think we all understand that India has a moratorium on nuclear testing and has made a public commitment based on its own decision to continue that moratorium on nuclear testing. I think that it very important to us and others who look forward to cooperating with India in the area of civil nuclear power," he remarked.

Boucher said, "The US looked forward for that (moratorium) to continue and that is why it is not surprising to find that encoded in various forms in documents we write and statements we make."

"It was India's decision to do that just as the major nuclear powers themselves decided not to test," he added.

On the issue of credible minimum nuclear deterrent that appeared to have set off a loud debate recently in India when Boucher was visiting, he brushed it off as people asking distorted questions" after a 'misreading' of his remarks creating a mini-storm in a mini-teacup.