Both India, US to benefit from nuke deal: NSA

New Delhi, July 27 (UNI) India and the United States today announced the finalisation of the agreement for civil nuclear cooperation which offered ''enormous strategic and economic benefits'' to both the countries.

The announcement, described as a 'historic milestone' by the two countries, was made in a joint statement issued by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The finalisation of the text would now permit the two countries to move forwaqrd on the US-India civil nuclear cooperation initiative, first announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George Bush on July 18, 2005 and reaffirmed on March 2, 2006.

The next steps would include India negotiating a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and support for nuclear trade with India from the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, Mr Mukherjee and Dr Rice said in the statement.

''Once these additional actions have been completed, Presidet Bush will submit the text of the agreement to the US Congress for final approval,'' the joint statement.

The finalisation of the agreement was also announced at a joint press conference held by National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar.

UNI