Differences over "many" issues in the civil nuclear deal with India have been "overcome" and the two sides just need to go "extra couple of feet", the US has said as top officials continued talks to finalise the agreement.In an indication that the talks on the civil nuclear deal could have entered the decisive phase, the high-level Indian negotiating team has extended its stay here to continue discussions with the US counterparts.
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon met US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns this morning to carry on discussions on the proposed 123 Agreement that will operationalise the civil nuclear deal.
Menon and Burns held detailed delegation-level negotiations over last two days to sort out the differences over issues like reprocessing and the fate of the deal if India were to conduct a nuclear test in future.
National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, who is leading the Indian negotiating team, also held a number of rounds of talks with his counterpart Stephen Hadley over the last three days.
"We have overcome many of the outstanding issues. We just need to go the extra couple of feet," Burns said on Thursday.
"We are in an extra innings," Burns said referring to a baseball term. "We haven't given up and I'm very hopeful we might have an agreement."
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