NEW DELHI, July 12: India's National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan will lead a high-ranking delegation to Washington next week in an “all-out effort” to clinch a controversial civilian nuclear deal with the United States, reports said on Thursday.

Towards this objective, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George W Bush spoke over phone on Wednesday, “giving hope that both countries can firm up a bilateral agreement to coincide with the second anniversary of the landmark July 18 agreement,” the Indian Express said. The talks are slated for July 16-18.

The head of India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Anil Kakodkar, will accompany Mr Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon to Washington. Indian Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen, another key negotiator, will be part of the talks.

“In fact, he was in Delhi last week for consultations. US Ambassador to India David Mulford is also flying back to participate in this all-out effort to finalise the agreement,” the report said.

The key hurdle in the so-called 123 talks relates to the US extending India the right to reprocess spent fuel still remains unresolved.