India and the United States will make a concerted "push" over the next few weeks toward finalising the so-called 123 Agreement that lays down the parameters for civilian nuclear cooperation between the two countries, a senior Bush administration official said on Wednesday.

Admitting the 123 Agreement had taken "longer than expected to nail down," undersecretary of state R. Nicholas Burns expressed confidence that the two sides will have a civilian nuclear deal soon. He said he would visit India in the next couple of weeks to finalise the deal.

"In the next few weeks both sides will make a push toward completing the 123 Agreement,” he said, adding both governments will need to show patience and be willing to compromise.

Technical teams from India and the United States met in London on Monday and Tuesday to discuss key sticking points in the 123 Agreement, including India's demand to retain the right to test nuclear weapons, which has become a contentious issue in negotiations.

Burns said he would call Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon in the next day or two after he had met with his negotiating team, which was expected back from London on Wednesday afternoon. He said he would then draw up a schedule for his trip to New Delhi in the next couple of weeks.

The Bush administration's point person on the nuclear deal urged India to conclude the 123 Agreement and follow up by securing a safeguard agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency. "It is a long continuum, but I am optimistic that we are going to get to the mountaintop," Burns said. "It is going to require a bit of hard work on the part of both the United States and India," he said, adding it was too important for both governments to let go.

"We are 90 per cent there," Burns said. Explaining the delay, Burns said, "As the Indian government has looked at the Hyde Act, a number of questions have arisen where they wanted further clarification on the technical basis of how this agreement is going to go into effect. "The Hyde Act is named for the former chairman of the House International Relations Committee, Republican Congressman Henry J. Hyde, who, along with the panel’s present chairman Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos, was an architect of the nuclear cooperation bill.

"Both sides need to compromise in order to reach a final agreement. Both of us are responsible for this agreement," Burns said, adding, he believed the Indian government has "the best of wills and the best of intentions."

Taking a swipe at critics of the deal in the Department of Atomic Energy in India, Burns challenged them to make an adjustment psychologically to the fact that India and the United States are no longer on different sides of the fence. "People on both sides of the equation need to adjust to this new world and that means a compromise," he said. He noted that during the course of negotiations on the 123 Agreement both sides have witnessed an intersection of a prior world of isolation with a present integration.

"If India wants benefits from this deal it will have to subject itself to inspections," Burns said. The benefits for both our countries will be real," he said

Some critics in Washington are wary of India's relationship with Iran and want the Bush administration to ensure that this is taken into account while sorting out the nuclear agreement. Burns said the U.S. would encourage all of our friends not to have normal relations with Iran. A business-as-usual approach with Iran is unwarranted.

But, he noted, all U.S. allies, including Japan and South Korea, have diplomatic and economic ties with Iran. "India needs to be judged in comparison with our Asian allies," he said, adding, "We don't believe India wants a highly developed military relationship with Iran."