The sooner the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement is in place the better as the deal has acquired a "symbolic significance" and is a manifestation of a new relationship based on "trust" and "mutual benefit", Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen has said.

"I hope that when -- I am not saying if -- this agreement, which was reached between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] and President George W Bush [Images] in July last year, is enacted into legislation it will be on the conviction that it is as beneficial for the United States as it is for India," he said at The India Forum of the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC on Monday.

"I don't want to push this beyond a point, but sooner it is done the better," Sen said, adding the civilian nuclear agreement had acquired a certain "symbolic significance" and that the agreement itself "is a manifestation of a new relationship which is based on trust" and which is "firmly set on an upward trajectory".

Speaking during an interactive session, Sen said "...the legislation when it is adopted it will be on the basis of broad bipartisan support as it has happened in the adoption of the legislation in the House of Representatives."

If the Clinton visit of 2000 was memorable, the Bush administration has taken the relationship on a "much higher level" that, among other things, reflected a fundamental reorientation of American foreign policy, especially as it pertained to seeing India as an emerging regional and potentially a global power, Sen said.

The focus of the Indian envoy's address to scholars, students and administrators was on the 'Emerging Strategic Partnership between India and the United States.'