US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice met Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma on Wednesday night on the sidelines of ASEAN ministerial meet in Singapore

The leaders had a "very good" meeting during which Rice appreciated India's "resolve to go ahead with the historic nuclear deal", highly-placed sources said.

They discussed the "entire gamut of issues" relating to the deal and the two leaders will again meet later on Thursday, the sources said.

Sharma is heading the Indian delegation to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) of which New Delhi is a dialogue partner.

During the ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting attended by Sharma, the regional grouping said they welcomed the Indo-US agreement which would ensure energy security for India and hoped the countries would be able to conclude the pact soon.

After the government won the confidence motion on Tuesday night, the US had said it will work with Indian government to expedite the processes at IAEA and 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for an exemption for nuclear commerce.

An Indian delegation will later this week travel to various NSG countries to muster support for the nuclear deal, particularly focusing on nations which have had reservations so far on allowing exemption to India.

The government expects the IAEA Board of Governors to approve the India-specific safeguards agreement during its meeting scheduled for August one.

After the approval from the atomic watchdog, India will have to get a waiver by consensus from NSG to allow it to have civil nuclear cooperation with the international community.

The delegation includes ministers Kapil Sibal, Prithviraj Chavan and Anand Sharma besides National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and other officials of the Ministry of External Affairs.

India is lobbying hard to get support of NSG countries with regard to the deal. Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith Australia yesterday hinted at supporting India's case at the NSG during his meet with Sharma.