WASHINGTON, Dec 20: Senior US and Indian officials met at the White House on Friday to finalize an agreement that would allow India to obtain sensitive defence technology from the United States.

The agreement called “the Glide Path” will enable India to seek US cooperation in space, nuclear, high-tech and missile defence areas. It is the first such agreement that Washington is signing with another country.

It will ease controls on Indian firms from buying high-tech equipment from American companies, and open the way for the transfer of sensitive technology to India.

Satish Chandra, a senior member of India’s National Security Council, led the Indian team at the talks, while Stevel Hadely, deputy national security adviser, led the US team.

Indian officials told reporters that the agreement indicates the Bush Administration’s commitment to strengthening strategic ties with India.

The agreement is expected to be formally announced early next year. Both Indian and US officials told reporters that they decided to delay the announcement for political reasons.

India does not want the agreement to be announced during the parliamentary session and the Bush administration is still too occupied with Iraq to engage in other major activities.

US officials say they must consider Pakistan’s sensitivities to any such deal with India and would like to assure Islamabad that the United States would not allow this technology to be used against Pakistan.

India and the United States have been working on this agreement for almost a year now. They had expected to announce the agreement in September after a meeting between President George Bush and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in New York during the UN General Assembly session. But the announcement was delayed because they were still finalizing details.

US officials say they also decided not to announce the agreement in September because President Pervez Musharraf was also in New York during the Vajpayee-Bush meeting and it would have embarrassed him at home.

Diplomatic sources here say that there are also legal restrictions on sharing some of these technologies with India, which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but still is a declared nuclear power.