US State Secy Condoleeza Rice to visit India

The State Department said she will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and hold talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, discussing a wide range of issues, including the civil nuclear initiative.

"They (Rice and Indian leaders) are obviously going to talk about the (civil nuclear) agreement and what it means for the relationship," Department Spokesman McCormack said.

He, however, refused to say categorically whether the 123 agreement, which has been approved by the US Congress, would be signed during Rice's visit.

"The President has to sign it... I would expect that there will be a number of other administrative or bureaucratic steps along the way... If there are any further events, you know, signings or anything else around this agreement in India, we'll let you know.... Right now I don't have anything to announce," the Spokesman said.

"I'm sure that there are going to be other things that, you know – for example, enrolling a bill for the president... to sign legislation.

"And I'm sure on the Indian side perhaps there are other such things. But, again, I'm not going to concern myself with those kind of bureaucratic things. It's not a question whether they are going to happen, but, you know, but when, and it's a matter of people doing those things. So I'm not trying to indicate any obstacles to this," McCormack said.

On the nuclear deal, he said: "It, in our view, will mean a different kind of relationship between the United States and India for decades to come."