Date:20/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/20/stories/2007072060221500.htm

National

Nuclear deal matter of time, says U.S.

Washington: As top officials of India and the U.S. held hectic meetings to end the logjam in talks on the civil nuclear deal, Washington on Thursday said both sides were committed to reach the agreement and it was just a matter of time.

“Certainly, there’s no time like the present to reach a deal,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters here as National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan prepared to meet Vice President Dick Cheney to discuss the nuclear issue.

“We [the two sides] had some preliminary discussions yesterday. There are going to be some more discussions with [Under Secretary of State] Nick Burns and [Assistant Secretary of State] Richard Boucher. So we’ll see,” McCormack said, adding after these parleys “we’ll have a better idea” as to “where we are.” — PTI