Bush calls up PM, discusses nuke deal, G-8, WTO

New Delhi, May 7 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today discussed with US President George Bush the latest developments on the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation, the need for successful completion of the WTO negotiations and the problems of climate change.

The wide range of issues came up for a review when Mr Bush called up Dr Singh on telephone this evening, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

''The two leaders expressed happiness at the strengthening of the bilateral relations and reviewed developments pertaining to negotiations on bilateral civil nuclear cooperation,'' the PMO said in a statement.

The call by Mr Bush has come within a week of the two countries reporting progress in their talks on the proposed 123 agreement, a prerequisite for the implementation of the US-India civilian nuclear deal.

Following the talks Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon had with the US administration a week ago, it was announced that US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns would visit New Delhi later this month to reach a final agreement.

Addressing a press conference, the Foreign Secretary had said considerable progress had been made on the 123 agreement and it was hoped that it would be finalised ''as soon as possible, quicker the better.'' Mr Bush invited the Prime Minister to visit the United States again which was accepted and the mutually convenient dates would be worked out, it said.

Dr Singh had visited the US last in July 2005 when the nuclear deal was reached.

The two leaders discussed the agenda of the G-8 Outreach Summit due next month. The Prime Minister conveyed India's commitment to work with other countries to deal with the problems of climate and global warming.

Dr Singh said the problems of environment cannot be solved by perpetuating poverty in developing countries.

The two leaders discussed the clean development mechanism and agreed that the emphasis had to be on greater energy efficiency and the development of new technologies.

They also emphasised the importance of a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round of multilateral trade negotiations.

The Prime Minister said India would like to work with all like-minded countries to make a success of Doha negotiations. Dr Singh and Mr Bush expressed happiness at the strengthening of the bilateral relations, the press note said.

They also discussed other regional matters.

UNI