Thursday, December 22 2005 09:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The United States has said that it was optimistic of a 'bright' future for its relationship with India and it looked forward to taking the engagement to the next level.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who met visiting Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, was "Quite optimistic about a bright future for the United States-India relationship and Washington is looking forward to working with India closely to take the relationship to the next steps," State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said here, quoting her.

The Spokesman said that the focus of the nearly 20-minute meeting between the Saran and Rice was the forthcoming visit of US President George W Bush to India.

"It was a very general discussion. They talked about the planning for the President's upcoming trip to India. I think that was the focus of their discussions. There's the hope and desire on both sides that the President's trip be a historic trip that really signifies a changed relationship between the US and India that we have been working on for the past several years," McCormack said.

Saran, who is here for talks, especially on the Indo-US nuclear deal, will also be meeting with officials of the Departments of Energy and Defense and the National Security Council.

"I would expect that the more detailed discussions about the trip, issues like the civil nuclear issues as well as other issues that would be part of the trip, get taken care of at the Under Secretary as well as lower levels in terms of the working level," McCormack said.

Describing the status of relations between the United States and India, the spokesman emphasized that Washington had worked 'very hard' in the last several years to have a different kind of relationship with India.

"To forge a new strategic relationship with India across a number of different areas in the economic sphere, in the trade sphere, in the technology-sharing sphere an important part of being able to take the next step in this relationship is working on this working on the nuclear issue. We have a pathway forward that we have worked with and agreed to with the Indian Government," McCormack said.

He added Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns and Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Robert Joseph, were working 'very hard' on the nuclear issue, especially on Capitol Hill.

"I expect that there's going to be a lot more discussion with our Congress on this issue in order to move forward on the agreement. There are things that have to happen both on the Indian side as well as the US side," he said.

"There would be some changes to the law that would need to be made. Obviously, the Congress is the only body that can do that. We're going to be working closely with the Congress on that. And we're also going to be working very closely with the Indian Government on the steps that they need to take and that they have agreed to take on this issue", the spokesman remarked.

He said the subject of the resignation of former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh did not come up in the Secretary of State's discussion with Saran.