``Contrary to the general impression, the talks have been quite good. Common areas of agreement on subjects like export control, reduction of nuclear weapons and checks on the production of fissile material have been expanded,'' India's ambassador to the US Naresh Chandra told journalists at a briefing on Wednesday following the seventh round of talks in Rome last week between India's special envoy Jaswant Singh and US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.

Ambassador Chandra, who is one of the principals in the ongoing dialogue, did not go into the fine print of the talks but sought to convey the impression that while the two sides are far from consonant on many issues, there had been significant progress in several areas. The two sideswould continue to go over areas of disagreement at the eighth round of talks scheduled for January in Delhi.

Three significant areas appeared to have been covered in the Rome parleys: The Indian side briefed the Americans about the constitution of the National Security Council. This in a large measure is expected to allay US fears about the command and control structure of India's incipient nuclear force. ``We can now expect a more clear cut and comprehensive enunciation of India's security doctrine and strategy,'' Ambassador Chandra said, indicating that Washington's concerns about India's nuclear plans would be answered in the strategic defence review and other work the NSC is expected to take up shortly.

On the other hand, India has once again firmly rejected US entreaties for a moratorium on fissile material production by nuclear and threshold nuclear powers, pending a formal treaty called the FMCT which is being discussed at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. New Delhi believes that any treatyfreezing fissile material production should come out of the deliberations of the CD. ``This is not something which can be done in the backroom. Let the whole world decide,'' Ambassador Chandra said, in remarks that suggested Washington had not been able to move India from its position on this stated by Prime Minister Vajpayee in his UN speech.

The Indian side also took up strongly the issue of the entities list which virtually blacklisted some 200 Indian companies. But apparently the Indian argument that the US process violated the spirit of the WTO agreements fell on dead ears. The affected entities had 60 days to make a representation to the US commerce department seeking exclusion from the list, but it was quite likely that New Delhi would approach the WTO if there was no reconsideration. India has also taken exception to Washington's decision to deny World Bank loans to India for non-humanitarian projects. While all World Bank loans by their very nature were humanitarian and developmental, the US moveclearly violated the World Bank's charter, which frowned on politics in its decision making process.

New Delhi has also pointed out the ironical situation of the Clinton administration lifting sanctions to allow private American banks to lend money to developmental activities at commercial rates while depriving India of World Bank loans which came at lower interest rates. India gets about $ 3 billion in developmental loans from the US each year. Loans worth $ 1.1 billion have been deferred since India's nuclear test following the US-led embargo in the bank. The loans include $ 575 million for state highways in Gujarat and Haryana and a $ 450 million loans for a powergrid.