PM, Bush to hold talks today on nuke deal

Berlin, June 8 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold talks with US President George W Bush at Heiligendamm, near here, later today, giving a political push to the seemingly stalled negotiations on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Shortly before the ''push-aside'' meeting between them on the margins of the G8 summit with India and four other outreach nations, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and other top Indian officials would have a similar meeting with Bush aides.

According to experts on the nuclear deal, the two leaders are likely to ask the negotiating delegates to find a way out to overcome their differences, mainly on India's insistence on retaining the right to conduct further nuclear tests and reprocess the spent fuel and New Delhi's demand for a US guarantee for uninterrupted fuel supplies.

The Singh-Bush meeting comes in the wake of the talks US Undersecretary of State Nicolas Burns had with Mr Menon and others in New Delhi a week ago.

Both sides had acknowledged that tough negotiations were ahead for keeping the July 18, 2005 deal alive by signing the 123 agreement, necessary for implementing the proposed cooperation on the civilian side.

It is understood that India has come out with new ideas to resolve the spent fuel recycling problem and is expecting a positive response from the US.

Official circles expect Mr Bush to appreciate some of India's suggestions and ask his side to find ways to accommodate them to the satisfaction of the critics keeping a close watch on the developments on the deal.

UNI