Thursday, August 3 2006 12:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: The Bush administration says that it is 'fully supportive and fully behind' efforts to see the India-US nuclear deal being implemented, but that India too has to do a few things to see it through.

The US House of Representatives has passed the enabling bill and we're working with the Senate to get a vote scheduled, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

The administration is working very closely with Congress to get the necessary legislation passed so that it can implement the agreement, but there are things that the Indian side has to do as well, he said without spelling them out.

Once the Senate too has passed the enabling bill, there's has to be a conference and they're going to have to pass, finally, some legislation. So there are still steps to be taken here, McCormack said in outlining the US legislative process.

"But we've come a long way and we are fully supportive and fully behind seeing this agreement being implemented," he said.

Describing it as a good deal for India, the US and, ultimately, for the global non-proliferation regime.

Apart from the delay in the Senate vote on the nuclear deal, India has expressed concern over the addition of new legislative conditions to the India-US nuclear deal going beyond the scope of the July 18, 2005, joint statement of President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Bush administration has assured India that it's working closely with Congress to address concerns over provisions requiring India to cap its production of fissile material, restricting its future nuclear supplies by codifying political guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and asking New Delhi to tailor its policies toward Iran in concert with Washington.