New Delhi: US President George W Bush and Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice have expressed their desire to visit India at an early date, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh said.

Accepting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's invitation to visit India during their maiden meeting in New York in September, Bush had stated that he would certainly like to travel to New Delhi "early" in his second term in office, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh told reporters in New Delhi.

Singh said he had invited Rice to India and she has promised to do so as early as she can. Rice, who has held intensive parleys with Indian leaders as National Security Adviser, is awaiting confirmation by the US Senate before formally taking charge of the key post.

Singh said India accorded "high priority" to developing its relations with the US.

"It is in our interest, in the interest of the region and for global peace, security and goodwill that the two great democracies of the world have a steady relationship," he said.

Observing that Indo-US relations are being expanded across the board, he said both countries shared a great and enduring affinity as peoples wedded to democratic values.

Contending that the US Presidential elections did not fill India with any uncertainty or doubt, he said Indo-US relations were "beginning to acquire a degree of stability and predictability and a willingness to work together on shared concerns".