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Bush visit to India: Burns meets Natwar Singh
by NB Nair

     New Delhi: Visiting US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, met External Affairs Minister K.Natwar Singh on Saturday, and is understood to have firmed up U.S.President George W Bush's scheduled visit to India in February next year. Informed sources told ANI shortly after the meeting that Burns had also briefed Singh about Friday's deliberations with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, which focussed on fining tuning various aspects of the landmark civilian nuclear agreement inked between the two countries during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington between July 16 and 20 this year. The two also reviewed the status of bilateral ties in the three months after the Indian Prime Minister's visit. On Friday,Burns had said that he did not see any obstacle coming in the way of the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear pact signed between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S.President George W Bush in July this year. Addressing a joint press conference at Hyderabad House here with Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran after over six hours of talks over how to take the landmark pact forward to its logical conclusion, Burns said that both New Delhi and Washington were fully committed to the responsibilities and practices enjoined in the July 18 agreement.