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India and the United States have agreed to set up a body to facilitate the transfer to India of sophisticated civilian and military technology and to discuss cooperation in the space and nuclear sectors, officials said here Wednesday.

Agreement on the issues was reached during discussions here between high-level delegations led respectively by Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha and US undersecretary of commerce for exports Kenneth Juster, a joint statement said.

National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra and other top officials also formed part of the Indian team.

"The two governments agreed to create an India-US high technology cooperation group comprising senior representatives of relevant departments of both countries," the statement said.

"The group will expeditiously work towards developing a new statement of principles governing bilateral cooperation in high technology trade that broadly advances our relationship in this area, including trade in dual use goods (military) and technology."

The United States had for long prohibited the export to India of any sensitive high technology that could have military applications.

Indian hopes for such technology were further set back when India carried out shock nuclear tests in 1998, prompting US sanctions.

But relations warmed follwing president Bill Clinton's visit to India in 2000 and all remaining sanctions were lifted last year after New Delhi joined the US-led coalition against terrorism following the September 11 attacks.

Until now, the US has been unwilling even to discuss nuclear cooperation in the civil sector with India because it was worried that the technology would be subverted into some form of military application.

"We did discuss cooperative steps in the civil space and civil nuclear sector," Juster told a media conference after the talks.

"We are moving forward and taking progressive steps in that area," he said.

The US official said existing restrictions on the sale of high technology items to the Indian national space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), also came up for discussion.

"I don't want to go into the details of all of our discussions but we did talk of certain forward-looking steps that we can take in the civil nuclear and the civil space areas. That was the conversation we had and it was productive," said Juster.

He also said it would not be necessary for India to win congressional approval on a "case by case basis" for bilateral high technology trade, including trade in US-controlled dual use items.

"Dual use items which have a commercial and military application fall under a regulatory framework... but particular exports under the dual use system will not require a congressional approval," said Juster.

"The US delegation reviewed with its Indian counterpart the current state of bilateral high technology trade and the two sides recognised the improvement in this area."

"We pledged to think boldly and creatively about steps that could be taken to enhance high technology trade in a way that reflects our countries' new relationship and common strategic interests."

The review of trade in high technology is in keeping with the improvement in bilateral relations. The process got underway when Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee met US President George Bush in November last year in Washington.

Relations between United States and India have been strengthening and the two countries held their first war games in 39 years in May this year in Agra, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

India and the United States had strained relations during the Cold War, when officially non-aligned New Delhi tilted towards the Soviet Union. 

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