Negotiations on N-deal in last leg: PM

NEW DELHI: As India and the US launched fresh round of talks to conclude civil nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the negotiations were in the 'last leg' but refused to predict by when the agreement would be firmed up.

"We are in last leg of negotiations," Singh said on the sidelines of a book release function when asked about the status of the talks on 123 agreement, that will operationalise the civil nuclear deal.

The comments came as a high level Indian delegation led by National Security Adviser MK Narayanan started discussions with US leaders and officials to conclude the 123 agreement.

Several rounds of talks on the 123 agreement have failed to yield any result due to differences on the issues like reprocessing right for India and future of the deal if New Delhi were to conduct a nuclear test.

Asked by when the agreement was expected to be finalised, the Prime Minister said "I can't say."

In Washington, the US officials said a couple of 'tough issues' were left to be resolved but the deal was within reach.

The Bush administration expressed confidence that both India and the US are going to try to 'make a push' to finalise the 123 Agreement but the question was one of timing.