Friday, April 15 2005 08:41 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Promising to take bilateral ties to a "much higher level", President George W Bush yesterday (Apr 14, 2005) said that the US wanted to work closely with India in civilian nuclear and other energy sectors even as Washington remained non-committal on backing New Delhi's claim for a permanent UN Security Council (UNSC) seat.

During a 30-minute meeting with External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh at the Oval Office in the White House, Bush said that he was "extremely excited" and "pleased" with the state of Indo-US relations and would use the next four years in office to further strengthen them.

Terming India as a global power, he said that India and the US need to work together very closely for the common good, world peace and mutual economic benefit.

Bush said that he was very much looking forward to his talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he undertakes an official visit to the US in July and also to his own trip to India hopefully "within this year".

After a meeting with Natwar Singh, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a joint press conference that the US wanted to be supportive of positive trend in India's global role but did not go beyond the US stated position on the need for broader UN reforms.

Briefing reporters, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said that Bush and Natwar Singh spoke about the affinity between the two countries as democracies, their commitment to democratic values and how this provides an excellent basis for carrying the relationship forward.

Singh, for his part, said India was working with Brazil, Germany, Japan and many other countries on UN reforms including that of Security Council.

"Be it any criteria you apply, India qualifies for a seat in the expanded Council as a permanent member and it is quite obvious that the structure created in 1945 doesn't represent what is happening in 2005," Singh said.

Singh said that Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee would visit the US very soon to deepen the Defence ties between the two countries.