The United States on Wednesday said that it would support India's effort in getting some of the steps cleared for the finalisation of the India-United States civil nuclear agreement, but those steps have to be taken by India first.
"There are a number of different steps that will need to be taken in order to finally conclude all aspects of this agreement. It's going to be up to the Indian government to go through some of those steps on their own," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
"Of course, we support them in those efforts. The timing of that is going to be up to them, though," he said.
McCormack also said that the Bush administration has taken note of the recently introduced Congress Resolution, in the House of Representatives, by three members calling for stringent curbs in the pursuit of nuclear trade with India.
"We took a look at it, and we're going to keep working with not only those two representatives but others in the Congress to move forward on this deal," he said.
"They are important voices and they have raised some issues. And we want to engage them to reassure them of the importance of this deal, not only for the US government but
for our non-proliferation efforts worldwide," the spokesman added.
When asked if Washington was troubled by the fact that International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei had said that New Delhi did not approach him to begin talks on the safeguards issue, he said, "No, there are a number of different steps that will need to be taken in order to finally conclude all aspects of this agreement."