Progress urged on US-India nuclear deal

VISITING US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson urged India on yesterday to quickly implement a landmark civilian nuclear energy deal with the United States.

Mr Paulson was speaking in Calcutta, a stronghold of India’s communists, who oppose the deal and have threatened to topple the government if it goes ahead with it.

“This is a very important deal,” Mr Paulson told reporters after a conference on bringing banking services to India’s impoverished masses. “We want the nuclear deal to move as quickly as possible.”