US to ink nuclear pact deal with United Arab Emirates

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
In one of her final diplomatic acts, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was set Thursday to sign a nuclear cooperation deal with the United Arab Emirates, a US ally who some in Congress say has done too little to help stem the illicit flow of nuclear supplies to its Gulf neighbor, Iran. The first such deal with a Mideast nation, it lays the legal groundwork for US commercial nuclear trade with the UAE, which has foresworn nuclear arms as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The Bush administration, backed by a leading nuclear-control advocacy group, calls the deal an important expression of US interest in cooperating with countries that want to develop nuclear power for peaceful uses.