The declassified Agreement with the Government of India for the Application of Safeguards to
Civilian Nuclear Facilities was sent to the IAEA on Wednesday; a day later the Indian Foreign Ministry made it public. The document is likely to be signed soon.
This agreement is envisioned by another document - a nuclear cooperation pact between New Delhi and Washington - and is a step on the path to allowing India to buy nuclear fuel, which is now banned by international regulations because India has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).
The implementation of this deal is the only way for India to facilitate cooperation with nuclear powers without signing the NPT. India refuses to join the NPT, saying that it discriminates against countries that tested nuclear weapons after 1967.
India tested a nuclear weapon in 1974, which was why the multinational Nuclear Suppliers Group was founded in 1975 to control nuclear materials proliferation.
However, New Delhi has agreed to divide its nuclear program into military and civilian parts and let the international community monitor the civilian part without it signing the NPT. This is the basis for the deal that is now likely to be concluded.
