WASHINGTON, Jan 28: The US official negotiating a nuclear deal with India has said that the two countries are “very close” to reaching an agreement, but “some of the most difficult issues” have arisen towards the end of the negotiating process.

“It’s my assessment, and I’m the one negotiating this for six months, that we’re very close to an agreement. Oftentimes in negotiations when you get to the end, some of the most difficult issues arise,” Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters here on Friday.

Other US officials, however, indicated earlier this week that if the US and India are unable to find common ground in advance of President George W. Bush’s visit to New Delhi in early March, the deal might remain inconclusive.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Bush agreed on the basic outline of an agreement for civil nuclear cooperation in Washington in July last year and the two countries had hoped to conclude the pact before Mr Bush’s visit.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said India had “difficult choices” to make before the Indo-US deal could be completed, though she also insisted, “I think we’re making progress.”

She said the nuclear agreement presented “a difficult set of issues” and remarked: “In order to move on to a new phase in which civil nuclear power would be available to India, India has to make some difficult choices.”

The secretary did not elaborate on what she meant by “difficult choices” before India.

Asked to comment on what Secretary Rice had meant by “difficult choices”, Mr Burns said some difficulty in negotiations between the United States and India stems from the fact that this civilian nuclear energy cooperation is a “unique arrangement; the definition of civilian and military facilities and the separation plan; and the fact that this ambitious plan must find the seal of approval from the United States Congress and the Nuclear Suppliers Group.