US Lifts Sanctions on BARC and Two Other Indian Companies

The US Department of Commerce stated that BARC, Indian Rare Earths Limited, and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research had been taken off the Bureau of Industry and Security's list – also known as the Entity List of foreign entities involved in activities contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests.

The United States on Thursday lifted Cold War-era sanctions on three Indian entities, including the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), in a major step toward advancing civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries.

The US Department of Commerce stated that BARC, Indian Rare Earths Limited, and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research had been taken off the Bureau of Industry and Security's list – also known as the Entity List of foreign entities involved in activities contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests.

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BIS said the two nations share a commitment to advancing peaceful nuclear cooperation and associated research and development activities, with strengthened science and technology cooperation over the past several years that has benefited both countries and their partner countries around the world.

Boost to 2008 civil nuclear deal

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The move is likely to facilitate joint research and development, technology cooperation, and energy security efforts between the two nations.

It also heralds renewed momentum for the 2008 nuclear deal, originally envisaged by then-US President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to further peaceful nuclear cooperation.

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"The lifting of the three Indian entities will allow the United States and India to work even more closely to secure more resilient critical minerals and clean energy supply chains," said Matthew Borman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration.

This step is in line with and furthering the overall vision and strategic roadmap of the US-India partnership," he added.

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What US NSA said during his recent India visit

The Biden administration removed sanctions just over a week after US national security advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan announced that Washington was finalizing steps to remove "long-standing regulations that have prevented civil nuclear cooperation between India's leading nuclear entities and US companies.

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Speaking at IIT-Delhi during his India visit, Sullivan had said, "The formal paperwork will be done soon, but this will be an opportunity to turn the page on some of the frictions of the past and create opportunities for entities that have been on restricted lists in the US to come off those lists and enter into deep collaboration with the US, with our private sector, with our scientists and technologists, to move civil nuclear cooperation forward together," Sullivan said during his visit to India.

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