By IANS,
New Delhi : External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee leaves for Washington early Friday morning to sign the bilateral 123 civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the US.
With the US enabling law on the India-US civil nuclear deal in place, Mukherjee and US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will ink the bilateral 123 agreement at 4 p.m. Friday in Washington (1:30 a.m. IST Saturday).
The historic agreement, opening nuclear trade between the two countries that was over three years in the making, would be signed in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the State Department.
While signing the implementing legislation Wednesday, US President George Bush hailed the India-US civil nuclear agreement as “a big deal”, which will help India meet its energy demands while giving the US access to a growing market for nuclear technologies and materials.