Deal maybe ratified when PM visits US in September

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will go to Washington later this month and meet President George W Bush when the two may ratify the Indo-US nuclear deal agreed to between them three years ago following the ringing endorsement received at the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group.
    
Singh, who is to undertake a tour of the US and France, will travel to New York first for attending the United Nations General Assembly after which he will go to Washington on a day's visit.
    
Former Ambassador to the US Lalit Mansingh feels by that time the US Congress could approve the 123 civil nuclear cooperation agreement entered into between Bush and Singh in July, 2005

and the two could sign it in the final ratification process of the deal.
    
If that is not possible by the time Singh visits Washington, the deal could be signed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when a "lame duck" session of the Congress approves it in December before the end of Bush's term in mid-January next year.
    
From the US, the prime minister is scheduled to travel to Marseilles in France for the annual Indo-EU summit and then to Paris for a meeting with French President Nicholas Sarkozy.