The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, New Delhi

India's prime minister on Monday was set to begin a 10-day visit to the United States and France which is expected to mark the country's return to global nuclear commerce after 30 years in the cold.

Manmohan Singh, who will also attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York and a India-EU gathering in Marseille, expects to finalise at least one landmark atomic deal before returning on October 2.

In New York, he will meet world leaders including Pakistan's newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said.

Singh will then make a brief visit to Washington on September 25 when officials hope to sign a bilateral accord allowing India to buy nuclear power plants, technology and fuel.

It would mark a milestone in warming ties between the United States and India, a former Soviet ally, said security analyst C. Uday Bhaskar.

New Delhi, which is critically short of energy to fuel its booming economy, is looking at investments worth billions of dollars in its power sector.

Signed by Bush and Singh in July 2005, the pact is awaiting final approval from the US Congress.

Lalit Mansingh, a former ambassador to Washington, noted that the US Congressional calendar was "very tight" with the session slated to end on September 26 ahead of November 4 polls.

But the passage of the deal "doesn't seem impossible," he said, pointing to mounting internal pressure for an endorsement before Singh's arrival in Washington.

New Delhi, which agreed to open some of its reactors for inspection, already has approvals to buy fuel and technology from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) that controls global atomic trade.

Mansingh said that, even if the US deal was not signed, a nuclear cooperation accord with France was likely to be completed in Paris on September 30.