Washington (PTI): President George W Bush on Fridaysaid his Administration is "working hard" to get the Indo-US nuclear deal approved "as quickly as possible", ending hopes of the agreement being signed to coincide with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here in the absence of a Congressional approval.

"We want the (123) Agreement to satisfy you and get it out of our Congress. And so we're working hard to get it passed as quickly as possible," Bush told reporters at the Oval office in the White House after a 40-minute meeting with Singh.

The two leaders later broke for dinner at the Old Family Room. Singh flew in from New York to Washington for a seven-hour working visit to Washington.

Looking towards the Prime Minister, Bush said it has taken "a lot of work on both our parts, a lot of courage on your part, and of course we want the agreement to satisfy you and get it out of our Congress.

"And so we're working hard to get it passed as quickly as possible," Bush said in a manner of reassuring the Prime Minister about his Administration's intentions for quickly operationalising the landmark deal.

Bush said it was in US interest to have a "good, strong strategic relationship with India and we've worked hard to achieve that."

"One such sign of that relationship is the India-US civilian nuclear agreement," he said.

The Prime Minister also spoke about the nuclear agreement, "sincerely" hoping that it will be approved in a manner which will be "satisfactory" from the point of view of both India and the US.

In a significant observation, Bush told Singh he appreciated very much his briefing on the "neighbourhood in which you live," in an apparent reference to the situation in Pakistan. "It was very informative, and it helps me make decisions and it helps me formulate policy," he said.

"You and I have worked hard to change the relationship between our countries. India is a great country, with an incredibly bright future," Bush said. "I appreciate your friendship and I appreciate your leadership."

He said he will never forget his visit to India in March 2006 and that he remembers telling his friends when he got back that what an exciting place India was.

"There is a vibrancy and an energy, and there's an entrepreneurial spirit that's very strong. And I congratulate you and your government for enhancing that entrepreneurial spirit," Bush said.

The Prime Minister told the President that he had played the most important role in the "massive transformation" of Indo-US relations.

"And Mr President, you have played the most important role in making all this happen... through our cooperation with regard to civil nuclear energy. I know these are difficult issues, and at each stage it was your leadership, your personal intervention, which resolved all the difficulties that were affecting the progress of these negotiations," Singh said in an apparent reference to the critical role played by the Bush Administration in helping India secure a NSG waiver.

Singh said he was mentioning civil nuclear initiative because for 34 years India has suffered from a "nuclear apartheid".

"We have not been able to trade in nuclear material, nuclear reactors, nuclear raw materials. And when this restrictive regime ends, I think a great deal of credit will go to President Bush. And for this I am very grateful to you, Mr President," the Prime Minister said.

"I sincerely hope that the settlement which is now before the US Congress will be approved in a manner which will be satisfactory from the point of view of both our countries, the Prime Minister said.

"And when the history is written, I think it will be recorded that President George W Bush played a historic role in bringing the two democracies closer to each other," he said.

Bush said they talked about the environment and "how technologies will make it such that we can grow our economies and be good stewards of the environment."

Singh said he deeply appreciated and deeply valued how the President have found it possible to receive him despite all the enormous pressures on him in the wake of problems relating to the financial meltdown in the US.

Singh said there has been enormous transformation in Indo-US relations in many other aspects. The US is India's largest trading partner and that it was the largest investor in the country.

And at Bush's initiative the two countries have set up a CEOs Forum which has come forward with many innovative ideas to bring their business communities closer to each other, he said.

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