PM meets Bush

Berlin, June 8 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had a brief meeting with US President George Bush at Heiligendamm, near here, today, raising the hope that the seemingly stalled negotiations on the Indo-US nuclear deal would get going once again.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the G8 summit with the five outreach partners -- India, Brazil, China, Mexico and South Africa.

It could not be ascertained immediately whether the two leaders had asked 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 Under Secretary of State Nicolas Burns had with Mr Menon and others in Delhi a week ago.

Both sides has acknowledged that tough negotiations are 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 sources 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