Bush to meet Manmohan during G-8 summit

WASHINGTON: In their first direct interaction after firming up the landmark Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, President George W Bush will be meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next month in Russia at the summit of eight industrialised countries.

"...of course the President will be seeing Prime Minister Singh in St Petersburg at the G-8 summit in the middle of July and we all look forward very much for the opportunity," US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters.

The deal, firmed up during the Bush visit to New Delhi this March, is yet to be approved by the US Congress.

In reply to a question, Burns said, "I don't think it (the deal) is formally on the agenda, but this is certainly an issue that is going to be discussed at the summit.  

"Prime Minister Singh will be there and so I would imagine that there will be a lot of informal discussions and we would hope for the full support of all the countries there."

Burns said he could not answer if Bush would be meeting Singh during the UN General Assembly session in September in New York, as preliminary work in this regard has not begun.

There has been speculation in Indian media that Singh might skip UN General Assembly to take part in the summit of Non-Aligned Movement in Havana.