Strongly batting for the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei on Friday hoped that like the UN atomic watchdog, the NSG will also give a go-ahead to the pact, which is 'good' for moving towards a nuclear weapons free world.

Scoop: What the IAEA agreement gives India

Hailing the IAEA Board of Governors' approval of the India-specific safeguards agreement, which is key to finalising the nuclear deal, ElBaradei said the pact will help the non-proliferation regime.

He said the safeguards agreement, which will apply to India's civil nuclear facilities, was adopted by the agency's board of governors by 'consensus'.

The India-IAEA Safeguards Agreement

"I believe this agreement is good for India and good for the world and for non-proliferation," the IAEA Director General said.

"The agreement is good for our collective efforts to move towards a world free from nuclear weapons. The agreement brings India closer to the debate of our ultimate goal -- Nuclear Non-proliferation treaty -- for establishing a world free from nuclear weapons," he said.

An important day for India, says PM

If we have to eliminate nuclear arms, this kind of dialogue has to be universal and inclusive, ElBaradei said.

"We can't exclude from the debate India, Pakistan and Israel and those remaining outside the NPT. These are countries which hold 20 per cent of the world's population. They have to be included," he said.
 
Welcoming the India-specific agreement, he said the pact was a step in the 'right direction'.

"I also welcome the positive steps taken by India."

The IAEA chief, who has been backing the deal, also hoped that the NSG will allow India to do nuclear commerce.

"I am looking forward that the NSG will give a waiver to India to carry out nuclear commerce," he said.

The agreement will open India's 14 of the 22 existing and future nuclear reactors for inspections by the UN nuclear watchdog.

ElBaradei said India has agreed to harmonise its domestic laws on export control with those of the NSG, which are important as 'our ultimate goal is to make sure that the nuclear material does not go into wrong hands'.

He said India has 1.1 billion population and they need electricity for development.

"Around 300 million people are living on one dollar per day so we have to bridge the gap between the rich and poor to remove the imbalance."

If the safeguards agreement is properly implemented it has lot of implications.

By allowing India to make full use of this agreement, the safety, security and development will be ensured, ElBaradei said.

Noting that the pact could reignite the debate on nuclear disarmament, ElBaradei said the agreement would create an atmosphere of partnership.

"I see this agreement from a bigger picture and I hope that it will reignite the debate on nuclear disarmament," he said.

"Hopefully it will create an atmosphere of partnership and not isolation. It will bring together concrete result. He also hoped that all the states that have nuclear weapons would come up with a comprehensive moratorium not to conduct test at any time until the comprehensive test ban treaty came into force.

"This will also lead to comprehensive moratorium on production of any nuclear materials for weapons purposes until fissile material control treaty comes into force," he said.