India, US closer to reaching 123 agreement on N-deal: Menon

New Delhi, June 2 (UNI) India and the US today failed to achieve any breakthrough on the nuclear deal, but ''managed to remove most of the issues from the table'' during the three-day negotiations between Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns here.

''We achieved what we had set out to, and will continue discussion till we bring it to a successful conclusion,'' Mr Menon told reporters.

Mr Menon said he had three days of positive and useful discussions with Mr Burns that would help the two sides in achieving their goal.

''We removed most of the issues from the table...,'' Mr Menon said.

He said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee extended an invitation to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit India, and she is expected to come in the next few months.

''We are working on the dates,'' Mr Menon said.

Mr Burns also paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this evening before leaving for the US.

Mr Burns also had discussions with National Security Advisor M K Narayanan on the 123 agreement.

Eds: Here pick up suitably from the earlier series.

UNI