Manmohan, Bush begin delegation-level talks

New Delhi, Mar 2 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George Bush today went into talks for finalising the Civilian Nuclear Energy agreement and strengthening bilateral cooperation in various fields including ushering in a second Green Revolution in India.

Mr Bush and Dr Singh started delegation level talks, after one-on-one talks which lasted about 45 minutes. They were later joined by their top officials for delegation-level talks.

The Indian delegation led by Dr Manmohan Singh included Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar, Planning Commission Deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Indian Ambassador to US Ronen Sen and Principal Secretary to Prime Minister T K A Nair.

The US delegation led by President Bush included Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, US Ambassador to India David Mulford, Trade Ambassador Rob Portman, Deputy White House Chief of staff Joe Hagin, White House Counselor Dan Bartlett, National Economic Council Director Alan Hubbard and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher.

Before beginning their meeting, the two leaders shook hands and posed for photographers and television cameras.

Several agreements are likely to be signed between the two sides.

President Bush, who arrived xxxx Eds: Picking up from line one, para five of DI11 EXTERNAL-BUSH-MANMOHAN.

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