Bush to sign legislation on Indo-US nuclear deal on Sept. 8: White House

New Delhi, Oct 5 : US President George W. Bush will sign the legislation on the Indo-US nuclear deal, into a law on September 8 at the President's office, stated the White House.

Both the House of Representatives and Senate approved the Bill H R 7081, named after Democrat Howard Berman, last week.

On Saturday, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, while addressing a joint press conference with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi, had said that President Bush would sign the legislation "very soon". Mukherjee said, the nuclear initiative was in its last lap and after President George Bush signs the 123 agreement; the process would be complete paving the way for signing the deal.

While speaking on India's reprocessing rights, Mukherjee said that the issue would be addressed through bilateral pacts with individual countries, as the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) waiver was an enabling provision. Rice, while replying to a question on the delay in signing the historic accord, said, there were no open issues, but it was a busy time for the US legislative department and the administrative details still have to be worked out. Rice also pointed out that India-US relations go beyond the nuclear agreement, as new areas of cooperation in high-tech trade, agriculture and education were being opened up.

Earlier, the agreement was expected to be signed by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the US President George Bush during Singh's recent visit to Washington. The 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) that supply nuclear material and technology last month had agreed to lift the ban on civilian nuclear trade with India.

ANI