Click to play videoNew Delhi: Indian and US negotiators burnt the midnight oil on Friday to overcome the difference on 123 agreement.
Media reports suggest some headway may have been made on two issues, penalties for testing and lifetime fuel supply guarantees for safeguarded reactors.
But the reports also say India's right to reprocess spent imported fuel is still being debated.
Saturday is the last day of the talks. A joint press briefing may take place provided sufficient progress is made.
On Friday US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said the two countries were nearly there and he was optimistic about a deal.
When Burns and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon began what could be a final effort to wrap up the 123 agreement on Friday the question on everybody’s mind was - can they deliver?
“The Prime Minister had said and we do hope that whatever is finally agreed to would be within the templates of the same,” said MOS, External Affairs, Anand Sharma.
But some experts said that India's concerns about testing are exaggerated. They felt that a joint consultative mechanism could go at least half way towards meeting India's stand on the issue.
“Testing is no more an issue. It has been more or less resolved. Reprocessing remains the biggest hurdle,” said Strategic Affairs Expert, Anupam Srivastava.
As for reprocessing, there's speculation that the US and India would devise a set of technical benchmarks to allow verification whenever US spent fuel is reprocessed and reused.
The fact that the IAEA could play a key role here also shows that a lot of give and take ahead for the diplomats.
However, they do agree that it may require a final push at the highest level from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and from President Bush to finalise the 123 - a matter really of political will on both sides.
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