US positive on nuke deal outcome: Mulford

New Delhi, May 30: A day ahead of US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns arrival here on a three-day visit, US Ambassador David Mulford today expressed optimism over the conclusion of the 123 Agreement with India.

''We want to finish as soon as we can and both sides are positive we can do this,'' Mr Mulford said in a statement, confirming the visit of Mr Burns for talks on the proposed agreement, necessary for the implementation of the Indo-US deal for cooperation in civil nuclear energy.

Mr Burns ''will visit New Delhi May 31 to June 2 to meet with Indian officials for negotiations on the 123 Agreement,'' the embassy said.

Mr Mulford said both sides were optimistic despite the fact that there was ''considerable work to be done on what is a very technical and detailed agreement.'' The embassy statement has ended doubts over the visit of Mr Burns which comes ahead of a possible meeting between US President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the G8 Summit in Germany next week.

US State Department's Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey at the regular press briefing in Washington yesterday had said that no India visit had been scheduled for Mr Burns.

''As far as I know, while he's spoken about his willingness to go to India if it's appropriate to continue those discussions on India's nuclear deal, I don't believe that he's scheduled a trip there as of yet,'' she had said.

Mr Burns will hold talks with Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and other officials to hammer out the language of the agreement.

The contentious issues appear to be India's insistence to retain its right to undertake a nuclear test, if the security situation so demands, and reprocessing of spent fuel.

However, Mr Burns, in a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, in Washington early this month, had said that both sides had resolved 90 per cent of the differences that had existed over the deal.

Meanwhile, in an interview to the Wall Street Journal, Mr Mulford said he expected that India and the US would surmount most of the major obstacles during two days of talks scheduled to start Friday.

Mr Mulford acknowledged the two sides must still work through some ''deeply political issues,'' but he said, ''We have been very anxious to take the next step.''

The foreign office here said Mr Burns would pay a three-day official visit to New Delhi from May 31 to June 2, 2007. During his visit, Under Secretary Burns would review bilateral relations and developments of mutual interest with the Foreign Secretary. The visit would also be the occasion for further discussions on the proposed bilateral civil nuclear co-operation agreement, it said.

UNI