"There are a number of different steps that will need to be taken in order to finally conclude all aspects of this agreement. It's going to be up to the Indian government to go through some of those steps on their own," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

"Of course, we support them in those efforts. The timing of that is going to be up to them, though," he said.

McCormack also said that the Bush administration has taken note of the recently introduced Sense of Congress Resolution, in the House of Representatives, by three members calling for stringent curbs in the pursuit of nuclear trade with India.

"We took a look at it, and we're going to keep working with not only those two representatives but others in the Congress to move forward on this deal," he said.

They're important voices and they have raised some issues. And we want to engage them to reassure them of the importance of this deal, not only for the US government but for our non-proliferation efforts worldwide, the spokesman added.