Extract: US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s comments at the US Institute of Peace

''Question: Good morning, Madame Secretary. Thank you for coming to speak with us today. My name is Emmanuel Teitelbaum. I'm a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow here at the U.S. Institute of Peace. And I have another question about South Asia, but this time about India. Specifically, I'm interested to get your perspective on the nuclear accord that we entered into with India under the previous administration.

First, what, if anything, will the current Administration do differently from the Bush Administration in terms of the implementation of the Indo-U.S. Civilian Nuclear Accord? And second, I'm curious to know how you think the Indo-U.S. accord might influence negotiations with other countries like Iran. In your opinion, does the accord serve as a template for such negotiations, or does it set precedents that might serve to complicate negotiations?

Secretary Clinton: Well, first, let me begin by responding that the nuclear accord, which we support – I supported it as a senator, the Obama Administration supports it as a government – is embedded in a broader strategic dialogue that we are engaged in with the Indians. We view our relationship as one that is comprehensive and very deep in terms of the issues that we wish to explore with our Indian counterparts and the areas where we are either already or look to cooperate. I think it is very significant that the first official visit in the Obama Administration will be in November when Prime Minister Singh arrives.

The agreement is one that reflects the negotiations between India and the United States. We're not going to claim or use it as a template in its specifics. But in general, the kind of efforts to offer peaceful nuclear energy, while at the same time having safeguards and verification that will prevent others from going beyond the peaceful use of nuclear energy, is something that we are looking at very closely. The so-called 123 agreements that have been negotiated or are in the midst of being negotiated with other countries raise a lot of the same issues.

So as I said in my remarks earlier, the goal here is to create a better verification and safeguard regime to look for ways to provide the fuel cycle that doesn't spin into its use for non-peaceful purposes. Obviously, we have a lot of confidence in the Indians and a lot of confidence in their approach. And we are going to be working closely with them, including American companies that will be part of implementing the reactor sites that are part of the agreement.

But we want India to be part of our overall non-proliferation efforts. And we want them to really be a major player at the table in trying to figure out how, starting from where we are right now, we go forward in an effective, verifiable manner to reinstate a non-proliferation regime that can prevent further countries acquiring nuclear weapons, or even peaceful nuclear capacity without the safeguards that we envision. So – India we see as a full partner in this effort, and we look forward to working with them as we try to come up with the 21st century version of the NPT.

Thank you all very much.''