NEW DELHI: India and the United States held a round of technical discussions in London on May 21 and 22 in an attempt to narrow down differences on the 1-2-3 agreement as part of the civil nuclear deal, said the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs here on Wednesday when asked about the meeting.

"During these discussions, we clarified certain concepts and exchanged ideas, making further progress towards a mutually agreed text but gaps remain,'' observed the spokesperson, adding that both sides have agreed to continue with the discussions. The Indian delegation mainly comprised technical and other experts.

The meeting took place soon after U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns postponed his visit amid reports of both sides being unable to concur on several clauses in the deal such as reprocessing rights, perpetuity of fuel supplies and continuance of the civil nuclear cooperation in case India conducted an atomic test.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy spokesperson has already said that Mr. Burns was optimistic about an accord while a top Indian official maintained that there was "commitment'' at the top levels in both countries about the deal.

PTI reports from Washington:

The U.S., however, reported 90 per cent progress towards finalisation of an agreement to operationalise the civil nuclear deal with India but said both countries needed to make ``compromises'' to sort out remaining differences.

Mr. Burns said he would be travelling to India in the next week or two for talks and that a ``major effort'' was expected in the near future to firm up the agreement. — PTI

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