Vajpayee told a phalanx of journalists accompanying him on the flight from New Delhi that he was directing his officials to restart talks with Pakistan on all outstanding issues, including peace and security.

Doubtless, the Pakistanis will announce the two sides are resuming parleys on all outstanding issues, including the core issue of Kashmir. Either way, as Vajpayee and Sharifmeet this afternoon over lunch, there is a greater optimism in New York's autumnal air than there was during the Durban summer, when the talks about talks was, especially for the Pakistanis, nothing much to talk about.

Part of reason for the positive mood all around is the progress India and Pakistan have made in their talks with the United States. Pakistan has virtually committed to signing the nuclear test ban treaty that will facilitate the lifting of the crippling economic sanctions. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's speech before the UN General Assembly which will follow his luncheon meeting with Prime Minister Vajpayee, is expected to spell out Islamabad's stand.

India is taking slightly longer to cut its deal with Washington. But that's because its talks are more broad-based and there is a sense of greater strategic depth, unlike Pakistan's short-hand deal, which is seen as a desperate bid to avert a financial meltdown.

Even as the Prime Minister was landing in New York, the Indian negotiating teamled by special envoy Jaswant Singh wrapped up its fifth round of talks in Washington with US Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott amid signs of further progress. In fact, Singh's briefing to the Prime Minister about the progress of the talks will underscore the main thrust of what Vajpayee is going to say in his speech before the UN General Assembly on Thursday. ``Our formulations have become closer and closer. Some of it will come out in the Prime Minister's speech tomorrow,'' an Indian diplomat familiar with the situation told The Indian Express.

On the face of it, the announcement in Washington that Singh and Talbott will meet again for a sixth round in New Delhi in November suggests a deadlock. But officials said on the contrary there was significant progress. A definite sign of this was a parallel expert level talks between the two sides scheduled for October, possibly in Europe. This suggests that the two sides have now begun to talk nuts and bolts, or if you prefer, nose cones and launchingpads.

Another sign that Indo-US talks were progressing well was the announcement that Singh and Talbott discussed dates for a Presidential visit to India. Given that the two are meeting again in November following expert level talks in October, it is certain that the November visit is not possible. But this is the first time that the two interlocutors have discussed dates which means a deal is very much on the cards.

Other officials said the Prime Minister is expected to restate India's nuclear status in a landmark speech tomorrow, while announcing its unfolding nuclear philosophy that includes a declaration of no-first use and a de-facto adherence to the test ban treaty. It will possibly be the most closely watched and parsed speech of the session, even counting the dramatic re-entry into the international mainstream of Iran, whose Prime Minister Khatami is making waves in New York.

Indian officials say the Prime Minister's UN speech will constitute the basis for further negotiations with the US, sinceWashington is also looking for New Delhi to formally and comprehensively state its position which has come so far in dribs and drabs.

While all these moves on the international diplomacy track draw India and the US closer, there is a domestic American track which New Delhi is monitoring closely. Special envoy Jaswant Singh met several influential Senators in Washington on Tuesday to brief them about India's emerging nuclear doctrine with a implicit suggestion that it Indo-US relations would be best served by overturning the sanctions currently in place.

From all accounts, the lawmakers are keen to overturn the sanctions. They said as much to Singh. But whether the current atmosphere in Washington arising from the sex scandal and the timeline available (the House repairs for elections next week) is conducive for the passage of a law giving President Clinton a sanctions waiver is still unclear.