No unilateral access under end-user pact, says US envoy

August 29th, 2009 EU signs trade pact with southeast African nationsBRUSSELS — The European Union signed a temporary trade pact Saturday with Mauritius, Seychelles, Zimbabwe and Madagascar calling for tariffs on European goods to be removed over the next 15 years. The four countries in southeast Africa have had full access to the EU consumer market — the world's biggest — since the start of 2008 for most goods.

August 16th, 2009 BOGOTA - Colombia hopes to sign a controversial pact with Washington that would allow US military forces to use up to seven bases on its territory, authorities have said. A source linked to Colombia's defence ministry told EFE Saturday that negotiations regarding the pact were wrapped up in Washington Friday and President Alvaro Uribe's government was expecting the pact to be formally signed "in two weeks".

July 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today said in the Lok Sabha that the End-User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA) "does not compromise" India's sovereignty, but provided "an element of predictability" through options.

July 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The end-use monitoring pact with the US "does not compromise our sovereignty" and will not allow American inspectors to visit Indian military installations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh maintained Wednesday. You can be assured that our government has taken all precautions to ensure an outcome to guarantee (our) national security and interests.

July 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The end-user verification agreement for easing high-end defence purchases India has struck with the US does not involve automatic access to Indian defence bases, official sources said Friday. Despite initial apprehensions, India agreed during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit July 20 to the end-user agreement that will allow the US to monitor the end use of the arms and sensitive technologies sold to India and ensure that they are not diverted to other countries.

July 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Notwithstanding the political brouhaha raised by the agreement reached on the draft of a pact that allows verification of end-use of military hardware purchased from the US, Indian security experts say the pact is necessary for India to gain access to the high-end American arms market. "I think this is really not as extreme as it is made to sound.

July 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Describing it as a "landmark event", the US has said the end-user monitoring (EUM) arrangement agreed during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit has brought India into the nuclear non-proliferation mainstream. "It's a very significant agreement," State Department Spokesman Robert Wood told reporters Tuesday when asked to explain how the EUM for high-tech defence equipment and technology would work.

July 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - A day after an uproar in parliament over a pact that will enable the annual inspection of military hardware purchased from the US, Defence Minister A.K. Antony Wednesday defended the measure, saying it was the result of three years of tough efforts and that the government did not have any reservations about it.

July 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - With the opposition criticizing the end-user monitoring pact that India and the US have inked, the government said it will table a statement on the subject in parliament Tuesday. The pact, on verifying the end-use of US military hardware that India purchases, was signed Monday in the presence of External Affairs Minister S.M.

July 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The recently signed Indo-US end-user monitoring defence agreement attracted opposition's flak in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, with nearly the entire opposition charging the government with compromise was the country's security and sovereignty. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, former External Affairs Minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said the agreement was a matter of grave concern, as it would give the US the right to physically inspect equipment sold by it to India.

July 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Unhappy over External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna's statement on the India-US end-user pact, the entire opposition Tuesday walked out of the Lok Sabha, accusing the government of succumbing to American pressure.

July 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India and United States on Monday signed three agreements, including a strategically important Defence pact besides the two countries also announced the beginning of strategic dialogue. India and the U.S.

July 18th, 2009 MUMBAI - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Saturday said she was "optimistic" about concluding a defence pact that will enable the US to monitor the end use of the arms and sensitive technologies sold to India and ensure that they are not diverted to other countries. "We are working very hard to finalise a number of agreements.

June 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US is to give Pakistan $3.20 billion during 2009 for various tasks, including industrial aid and the war on terror, the country's envoy here has said. Of this, $950 million would be given as industrial aid, $700 million for the war on terror and $910 million as compensation for the losses Pakistan had faced in the war on terror, Online news agency quoted ambassador Hussain Haqqani as saying.

January 17th, 2009 JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Saturday evening declared a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in a press conference here.