Friday, February 24 2006 19:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: As intense negotiations between India and the US on the nuclear deal continued for the second day today (Feb 24 2006), American Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said both sides were working "very hard" to conclude the agreement but there was "some more work" to be done.

"There is a goodwill of both governments, and a commitment by President (George W) Bush to see this (July 18 deal) through towards a conclusion," Burns told sources here after meeting Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma here.

"We are working very hard on this agreement on both sides. We have some more work to do," he said before going for another round of talks with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran.

He expressed hope that progress will be made in the remaining part of his talks with Saran.

Noting that the two countries have been 'active' for the last 11 months, the US official said "there have been unique negotiations, very challenging."

Burns had yesterday said that "some differences" were still remaining between the two sides and that he was not sure whether the agreement would be concluded before Bush's visit here next week.

"Both of us want to complete these negotiations but there are still some remaining differences between us and those differences need to be worked out," he had said.

"We simply don't know whether we will have an agreement before President Bush's visit. We are trying our best, both sides, Burns said.