After a meeting with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during which the Indo-US nuclear deal was discussed, El Baradei suggested that negotiating the India-specific safeguards agreement would not be difficult as IAEA already has such four such arrangements with this country.

Mukherjee ‘explained to me the 123 Agreement between India and the US," Baradei said.

He said he wanted to see India managing to get out of the restrictions imposed by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group on nuclear commerce and be able to operate as both a supplier and a recipient.

"As a friend of India, I would like to see India making full use of nuclear energy to enable it to sustain its 10 per cent growth rate," said the IAEA Secretary General who is on a four-day visit from Monday.

Noting that India was a fast developing country with growing energy demands, El Baradei said up to 70 per cent of petroleum used here is imported and coal reserves are fast depleting.

India already has 16-17 nuclear reactors and plans to increase the number eight-fold by 2022.