In the face of new uncertainties dogging the nuclear deal in US Congress, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns will meet Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran in London next week to see how best to move the pact along "on both sides".
Burns, who held a "very good discussion" with Saran on phone on Tuesday, later said: "We have agreed to go over all aspects of the US-India agreement so that we can move it along on both sides."
With both the bilateral "123 agreement" and the safeguards pact with the IAEA still in the works, observers have said that any insistence on their tabling before considering the deal could delay the approval.
Burns said that the Bush administration's idea was to have the "123 agreement" as the last piece of legislative action instead of tabling it before the vote on the deal.
At his meetings with senior Congressmen, Burns proposes to provide the administration's own ideas on how best to bring the deal to a conclusion. He, however, repeatedly said it was entirely upto the Congress to decide on how to proceed in the matter.
He also sought to make it clear that Washington didn’t anticipate any problems over finalisation of the bilateral agreement with New Delhi. This agreement is only a reflection of all the decisions made during the negotiations on the deal.
{{/usCountry}}He also sought to make it clear that Washington didn’t anticipate any problems over finalisation of the bilateral agreement with New Delhi. This agreement is only a reflection of all the decisions made during the negotiations on the deal.
{{/usCountry}}