[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 29, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H9185-H9186]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          U.S-INDIA RELATIONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to talk about several 
important issues affecting the relationship between the two largest 
democracies in the world, that is the United States and India.
  Yesterday, Congress took an important step towards getting those 
relations back in a positive direction. The House-Senate Conference on 
Agricultural Appropriations approved a provision that would give the 
President authority to waive sanctions that were imposed on both India 
and Pakistan as a result of the nuclear tests that those countries 
conducted earlier this year.
  Mr. Speaker, it is important and necessary to provide the President 
with proper sanction waiver authority so that he may have more 
flexibility in negotiating with India and Pakistan.
  Pursuant to the Glenn amendment to the Arms Export Control Act, the 
President was required to invoke severe economic sanctions after the 
nuclear tests in May. These unilateral sanctions prohibit a variety of 
commercial and technical transactions between the United States and 
India. U.S.-India economic relations were growing in a positive 
direction at the time of the tests. In fact, the U.S. was India's 
largest trading partner.
  The sanctions that were imposed after the nuclear tests have 
disrupted a variety of bilateral assistance programs, including 
technical support for the development of financial institutions and 
other market reforms. These reforms offer short- and long-term 
opportunities for U.S. companies, large and small, to gain greater 
entry into India's vast consumer market and to help meet India's 
significant infrastructure improvement needs.
  Under the unilateral sanctions, we stand to lose many of these 
opportunities. In addition, the sanctions require the U.S. to block 
international financial institutions from making loans to India.
  The sanctions have not achieved the desired result, namely gaining 
India's support for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. However, several 
rounds of negotiations between our deputy Secretary of State, Strobe 
Talbott, and the special envoy of India's Prime Minister Vajpayee, Mr. 
Jaswant Singh, have shown significant progress.

  Giving President Clinton the authority to waive sanctions in exchange 
for significant agreements for India, as well as Pakistan, will help to 
move forward the process and ultimately enhance our nuclear non-
proliferation efforts.
  Mr. Speaker, I was joined by 21 of my colleagues from both sides of 
the aisle in this body in sending a letter to the conferees, to the ag 
conferees, urging them to support this important sanctions waiver 
provision, and I congratulate the conferees for approving this 
provision last night.
  Yesterday evening, India's Prime Minister Vajpayee left the United 
States after a brief visit to New York that included a significant 
speech before the United Nations, as well as a meeting with his 
Pakistani counterpart Prime Minister Sharif. Prime Minister Vajpayee's 
speech to the U.N. General Assembly provided a positive foundation for 
improving U.S.-India relations.
  I was also heartened by the new chapter in India-Pakistan ties 
signalled by Thursday's meeting between the two prime ministers of 
India and Pakistan.
  By expressing India's readiness to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban 
Treaty, Prime Minister Vajpayee has helped to vastly improve the 
climate and relations between the United States and India.
  I hope our administration will redouble its efforts to work with the 
Indian government to achieve results on nuclear proliferation of other 
issues.
  I was also very encouraged by the outcome of the Indian and Pakistani 
prime ministers' meeting, particularly with regard to peacefully 
settling the Kashmir issue establishing better communications between 
the two governments and increasing economic and trade cooperation.
  I agree that these issues, particularly the Kashmir issue, should be 
addressed on a bilateral basis between the two countries.
  The prime minister of India's appeal for a concerted international 
plan to combat terrorism and safeguard human rights is consistent with 
American views on these issues and deserves the support of the United 
States and the international community. In fact, the leadership that 
the prime minister expressed on all of these issues points to the 
importance of finally granting India a permanent seat on the U.N. 
Security Council.
  Besides the obvious justification for this step, the fact that India 
has one-sixth of the world's population and has contributed 
significantly to U.N. peacekeeping efforts, India offers a model for 
developing countries based on democracy and tolerance and as the prime 
minister's speech showed yesterday, India has important ideas on global 
stability issues that the rest of the world should listen to.
  I have sponsored legislation expressing support for India's bid to 
become a permanent member of the Security Council and I hope that the 
prime minister's visit will add momentum to that effort. I also hope 
that the progress we have seen in the last few days creates the 
conditions to allow President Clinton's trip to South Asia to go 
forward in the near future.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to remind my colleagues here and 
the American people of an important milestone. October 2, this Friday, 
is the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, who led India's independence effort. 
I mention Gandhi's birthday because this House recently approved 
legislation, that I cosponsored with my colleague, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. McCollum), that would authorize the government of India to 
establish a memorial to honor Mahatma Gandhi in Washington, D.C. There 
is similar legislation pending in the Senate, and I hope our colleagues 
in the other body will approve that legislation, ideally in time for 
the commemoration of Gandhi's birthday on Friday, and as another 
expression of friendship between our two countries.

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