United States Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns on Monday said he will travel to New Delhi next week to meet India's Atomic energy establishment.

Burns will find out how quickly the US and India can take the bilateral relationship on civilian nuclear energy cooperation forward.

Burns was the chief negotiator of the agreement from the US side.

"We have to complete a bilateral civil nuclear agreement. India must have its own safeguard agreement with the IAEA finished soon and then the US will lead the efforts in the Nuclear Suppliers Group," Burns said.

"That will end the pariah status India had had for the last 30 years and bring India into the system we all believe in," Burns said while delivering a lecture at the Asia Society in New York.

Burns expressed confidence that a bill will emerge to the mutual satisfaction of both the countries.

"We are very confident that both the United States and Indian governments will support the bill and it will allow American companies to invest in a rapidly growing field in India," Burns said.

"From energy and environmental standpoints, India will be part of the major international effort to ensure that we are all responsible for our nuclear technology," Burns said.

Describing it as a big step forward in Indo-US relationship he said, "It is a very exciting time and we are all proud of the efforts that the Bush Administration has made to put this forward and we thank the Democrats and the Republican members of the Congress -- people like Biden, Lugar, Hyde and Lantos.

"They all led this effort and we are grateful to them. The news is good in US India relationship," Burns said.

Burns also congratulated the Indian-American community for their efforts to ensure the passage of the bill in the Senate. "One of the bright stories -- and I have seen this first hand in the efforts of the Indian-American community in the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation -- is to see the emergence of Indian-American community in the US itself.

"The community was once a tiny minority in this country and today they number over 2.5 million -- 67 percent growth in five years and this is just the US census figures," he said.

"I think India has become in this decade what China was in the 1990s and Japan [Images] was in 1980s -- a country that is making an indelible mark, not just in trade balance, not just in what our governments are doing together but from societal standpoints," Burns said.

"This is very welcome because one thing that I have learned in over 25 years of career in diplomacy is that governments are not the sum total.

"Obviously, in the relationship between two great countries, it is going to be the private sector ties -- whether it is business, NGOs, students -- that are going to drive the countries together, and bind them together," Burns said.

"I think it is terribly encouraging to see this growth of Indian societies influence in our own country. I hope the Indian people feel the same way about the emergence of America as a force in India itself.

"We have taken a great leap in the past one year," Burns said, alluding to the civilian nuclear deal.