Thursday, February 23 2006 12:09 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: In the last ditch effort to conclude the nuclear deal just days before President George W Bush's visit here, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran met US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns today (Feb 23,2006) to fine tune the implementation of the agreement.

They began their third round of talks here to iron out differences on the deal on which the US says 90 per cent of negotiations have been completed.

The two sides had encountered 'difficulties' over the issue of separation, with the US insisting that India put more reactors than it was ready to in the civilian side. These included the home-grown fast breeder reactors (FBRs), a move opposed by New Delhi.

The two sides are now understood to have expressed readiness to show flexibility on their respective positions.

India, on its part, is believed to have agreed to put at least half of 22 nuclear reactors in the civilian side while the US is understood to have accepted to leave FBRs out of the loop for next seven years.