IAEA approves India nuclear inspection deal

“(The deal) is certainly important for India but it’s also important for the world at large because I think it meets the twin objectives of energy security as well as global climate change-related issues and concerns,” he said.

A few countries, including Brazil, Japan, Ireland, Austria and Switzerland, expressed reservations, IAEA diplomats said, while Iran accused the United States of double standards for seeking cooperation with India while trying to halt Iran’s nuclear programme.

But all 35 members of the IAEA board of governors reached a consensus in the end, joined by India’s neighbour and long-time rival Pakistan, which is not a party to the NPT either.

Many put this down to Islamabad’s long-time goal of one day signing its own safeguards agreement with the IAEA.

Britain’s ambassador to the agency, Simon Smith, said the decision would make a “significant contribution” to energy and climate security and argued that it was a “gain” for the non-proliferation regime.

ElBaradei said he hoped the agreement would “reignite” the debate on nuclear disarmament and create a new environment of partnership.

“And the concrete result of that, I hope, will be a comprehensive moratorium by all states that have nuclear weapons not to test them at any time in the future,” he said.