With the US Senate ratifying the Indo-US nuclear deal, External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice are set to sign the deal at Hyderbad House on Saturday.

While US Ambassador to India David C Mulford said that there was a “high probability” of the deal being signed during Rice’s visit to India, sources confirmed that the agreement would indeed be signed on October 4.

Mukherjee is currently in the US and will be returning on Friday. It is learnt that India’s ambassador to US, Ronen Sen, who played a key role in the entire process is also expected to be present when the deal would be signed.

While a formal announcement is expected on Friday, the MEA’s protocol division has already been alerted about the forthcoming event.

Amid the euphoria over the nuclear deal being passed by the US Senate, Mulford made it clear that not “every single commitment” in the 123 agreement is binding and the US government “cannot compel” American companies to offer technology or supply fuel or compel other governments to do things in a particular way.

“In the 123 agreement, which is going to be a law, not every single commitment is binding because that can’t be,” Mulford said in a media interaction at the Roosevelt House in New Delhi, hours after the deal got the US Congress’s nod.

He said, “The commitments under the 123 agreement have been preserved in the Congressional process as no amendments have been made to its content.”

... contd.