Former Indian Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran will headline a major conference this week on the expectations and consequences of the US-India Nuclear Agreement, hosted by The Brookings Institution,
Among key Congressional leaders, the Foreign Secretary met included Jim McDermott, co-chair of the India caucus at the Congress; Howard L Berman, Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs; and Senator Richard Lugar, Ranking Member of the powerful Senate Committee on International Relations
Both sides, however, refused to provide a timeline.
Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran, who was the original Indian interlocutor of the US-India civilian nuclear deal negotiations with erstwhile US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, is unapologetic about his recent remarks at the India Habitat Centre lecture series in New Delhi which left many foreign policy experts both in India and the US puzzled.
According to sources in the Ministry of External Affairs, the text will be simultaneously released in Washington and New Delhi.
Burns said, "We'll continue to watch India's relations with Iran, and we'll obviously respond very respectfully to any concerns by members of our own Congress as we should do."
US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns -- the chief interlocutor of the US-India civilian nuclear deal -- who will resign in March, has said he is elated that India has asked its Ambassador to Washington Ronen Sen to stay on for another year, describing it as "good karma".
Nicholas Burns noted that the Administration had been informed the Senate and House would meet in the early part of December to reconcile both bills.
In what diplomatic observers have described as "a make or break" round of negotiations, senior US and Indian officials held several hours of intense discussions at the State Department on Tuesday in an attempt to seal the 123 Agreement.
The two sides will seek to wind up the year-long negotiations ahead of the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W Bush in Germany next week on the sidelines of the G-8 Summit.
Seeking to dispel their apprehensions, Saran is expected to highlight New Delhi's impeccable record on non-proliferation front.
Burns said from an American perspective, 'India and America have a common interest to thwart terrorism in our own regions and globally.'
On his first visit to Washington after taking over as foreign secretary, Menon on Wednesday had a three-hour-long discussion with Burns, who is the key negotiator for the nuclear deal.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto was asked in his briefing as to where the two sides stand on the accord, given that Washington's pointsman for the deal, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns, is scheduled to depart the State Department by the end of March. "We'll continue our cooperation in order to achieve that goal of getting the agreement completed," Fratto said.
Burns was speaking at a White House Diwali function.
Both need to tackle Kashmiri militants together, Nicholas Burns said.
There is still time to take a decision, a top US diplomat said.
Indian team led by foreign secretary will be back at the US State Department for negotiations early Friday and expect to be involved in some pretty intensive discussions, sources said.
A first look of the Foreign Secretary's meeting with Rice.
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, who will be in Washington from March 28 to March 31, will hold bilateral discussions with his US counterpart, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns.
Saran and Burns will have deliberations on conceptual issues that have an impact and bearing on the negotiations on the agreement.
"It is not going to be replicated to other countries," US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said.
The two countries are aiming at sorting out differences particularly on issues like reprocessing right, perpetuity of fuel supplies and continuance of the civilian nuclear cooperation if India were to conduct an atomic test.
The senior State Department official stressed not only the kind of distances that have been traversed in the last several months -- over and beyond the civilian nuclear initiative -- but also in looking at what is in store down the road.
"I know that there were some press reports about whether or not he was going to be going this week or next week. I am not aware that he has any travel plans, at this point, to go to India," McCormack said.
Burns was the Chief Guest and spoke at the Republic Day Reception hosted by the Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen at his residence on Friday.
The Iranian nuclear issue, which threatens to snowball into a major issue, is also likely to figure at the two-day talks.
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