WASHINGTON, Oct 8: The United States and India are close to finalizing a deal that will allow New Delhi to receive US assistance in the fields of civilian nuclear energy, space and high-technology, diplomatic sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

The deal may be signed either in the third week of this month or early November when US Commerce Secretary Ken Juster visits New Delhi, the sources said.

India and the United States have already formed a high-technology control group to expedite the process. Initially, the two countries were focusing on three subjects — space, civilian nuclear technology and high-tech — but are now also discussing cooperation in missile defence.

The official confirmation that the Bush administration was close to signing such a pact with India came earlier this week when Secretary of State Colin Powell told Washington Post that the United States would sign an agreement with India called “glide path.”

He did not disclose details of the agreement in his interview but said the deal was discussed when President George Bush met Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in New York last week.

India and the United States have been negotiating this deal for two years and were supposed to sign it at the Bush-Vajpayee meeting but did not.

Mr Powell indicated that Washington was still demanding some nonproliferation steps such as strengthening domestic export laws, when the two leaders met.

The fear that Pakistan would demand similar facilities from the Americans also delayed the deal, as both sides agreed to put off an agreement for a couple of weeks, diplomatic sources said.

Although the deal was not signed in the Bush-Vajpayee meeting, India’s External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told Indian journalists that negotiations on the subject had entered “the final lap.”

Under the three-phase plan, the United States will also provide enhanced market opportunities to India.