Plans to construct six Westinghouse AP1000s in India gained prominence at the second India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue co-chaired by Ms. Sushma Swaraj, External Affairs Minister and Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, India; with John Kerry, Secretary of State and Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Commerce, US, in New Delhi.
In a joint statement issued after a bilateral strategic dialogue, the parties made three important announcements:
• A pledge to work towards India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
• Progress made in bilateral civil nuclear cooperation and
• Continued engagement between Westinghouse and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) towards finalizing contractual arrangements for the construction of the units.
They also looked forward to the immediate commencement of work on engineering and site design and the early conclusion of a competitive financing package based on the joint work by India and the US Export-Import Bank, the parties noted in a joint statement.