New Delhi, Dec. 6: US under secretary of state Nicholas Burns will arrive here tomorrow morning to address India’s concerns on the nuclear deal even as the two chambers of the US Congress have got down to formulate the final legislation.

His agenda also includes talks on defence cooperation, trade and investment.

Burns will meet foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and Shyam Saran, the Prime Minister’s special envoy on the deal. Saran and Burns had played a key role in outlining the contours of the pact.

Apart from briefing the Indian officials about the progress in the reconciliation process of the legislation passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate, Burns will review talks on the 123 agreement that will set the terms for nuclear trade between Delhi and Washington.

Senator dials Singh

Senate majority leader Bill Frist today called Singh and assured him that lawmakers were “working on” issues of concern to India and expressed hope that Congressional action on the nuclear deal would be completed this week.

The House and Senate held their first formal meeting yesterday to work on the language of the final legislation.

Frist, who telephoned Singh last evening, told the Prime Minister that one of his top priorities for the remainder of this Congress is to enact the legislation and said he was “confident that we will be able to complete Congressional action on it this week.”

Singh stressed that there are a number of provisions in the house and senate-passed bills that are problematic for the india because they depart from the understanding reached with president george w bush on this issue on july 18, 2005.

”We discussed several of these provisions and i assured him that the conferees are well aware of the indian government's concerns,” frist said, adding that legislators ”are working on the issues of concern to india.”

Assistant secretary of state for south and central asia richard boucher said efforts are underway to address india's concerns over some provisions of the legislation.

”There are sections in this bill that people in the (capitol) hill feel very strongly about but we found a certain flexibility, a certain willingness to look at other ways of expressing those views,” boucher told a group of indian journalists here. More pti sk rpb msa zh 12061502 del