US, India sign defence pact

India and the United States agreed Monday a defence pact that will boost US arms sales here, as New Delhi also approved sites for two US nuclear reactors, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

Photo: US, India sign defence pact

At a joint press conference with Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, Clinton said the two sides had agreed an "end-use monitoring" accord that would provide safeguards for the sale of highly sophisticated US weaponry to India, AFP reports.

One agreement designates two sites on which U.S. companies would have exclusive rights to sell civilian nuclear power reactors. That could be worth an estimated $10 billion in U.S. sales. The other deal is designed to allow the U.S. to ensure that technology in sensitive American defense items purchased by India are not transferred to third countries, according to Washington Post.

Under the terms of the agreement, the US would be allowed to conduct "end-use monitoring," meaning it would conduct regular assessments of India's military policies to verify that weapons systems are being used for their intended purposes, reports the Times of India. Such an agreement is required by US law before American companies can legally sell weapons systems to any foreign nation.