US, India aim to seal historic nuke deal soon

UNITED STATES: Top US State Department official Nicholas Burns will head to India this month to try to wrap up a landmark nuclear pact after talks here achieved "extensive progress," a US official said Tuesday.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon held "excellent" and "positive" meetings with senior US officials including Burns and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"We look forward to resolving the outstanding issues in the weeks ahead," he said in a statement.

Burns, the US under secretary of state for political affairs, will travel to India "in the second half of May to reach a final agreement," McCormack said.

Menon said after his talks that he was "happy" with the "very productive discussions." Looking forward to Burns' visit, he said: "As far as I'm concerned, this is doable ... and we want to do it as quickly as possible."

Indian embassy spokesman Rahul Chhabra said Menon and Burns discussed "the entire gamut of Indo-US relations, including the civilian nuclear issue."

The upbeat US tone signaled a prospective breakthrough for the nuclear deal, which is due to take full effect next year but which has languished since it was struck in July 2005.

The deal is the centerpiece of energy-hungry India's new relationship with Washington after decades of Cold War tensions, as it tries to sustain its stunning economic expansion.

Washingtion, Wednesday, AFP