US, India nuclear talks expected to go third day

WASHINGTON, July 19 (Reuters) The United States and India are likely to hold a third day of meetings to try to conclude a controversial nuclear cooperation agreement, a US official said.

The talks had been expected to end on Wednesday, but the official told Reuters ''there will probably be another session'' today.

The two sides have been stalemated for months over the landmark deal, which would give India access to US nuclear fuel and reactors for the first time in 30 years.

''There are certainly possible solutions open to both sides,'' another US official said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley met his Indian counterpart M K Narayanan.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack refused to say whether negotiators had made any progress.

''The United States has expressed its commitment and expressed its desire to reach an agreement. And we're sure that the Indian government wants to reach an agreement. The question is a matter of when and the timing of it,'' he told reporters.

Any deal must be approved by the US Congress.

The Bush administration considers the nuclear deal a major foreign policy success and is keen to have it take effect before Bush leaves office in January 2009.

The US Congress last December passed the Hyde Act which created a unique exception to US export law to allow nuclear cooperation with India, even though the country has nuclear weapons and has not signed the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Reuters DH VP0420