The United States has said it is determined to fulfill its commitments to New Delhi [Images] on nuclear commerce.

The message comes soon after North Korea's nuclear tests raised doubts about whether the US Senate will give its nod for the nuclear deal between India and the US.

Asserting that there was a world of difference between the nuclear programmes of India and North Korea, US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said, "We are determined to fulfill the commitments we made to the Indian government.

"I have been in touch with Ambassador Shyam Saran [Special Envoy for the Indo-US nuclear deal] and the new Foreign Secretary [Shiv Shankar] Menon over the last week to assure that the US wants to go forward on all of the definite initiatives that President [George] Bush and Prime Minister [Manmohan] Singh talked in March in New Delhi," Burns said.

Elaborating on the differences between the nuclear programmes of India and North Korea, he said, "India is a peaceful, democratic, law-abiding leader of the international community.

"North Korea is the reverse of all that, and so there is great trust in commitments that the Indian government made to us will be fulfilled and we are very confident that the India deal will be approved by a substantial margin."

Burns said the Bush Administration was working with the Republican and Democrat leadership "to see if it would be possible to have a vote (on the enabling legislation for the nuclear deal) in the lame duck session" of the Senate in November.

The bill has already been passed by the House of Representatives.