"This pact is a lasting incentive for India to abstain from further nuclear weapons tests and to co-operate closely with the United States in stopping proliferation," said Richard Lugar, chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee.
He spoke as the Senate began debate Wednesday on the "US-India Civilian Nuclear Agreement" clinched by President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in March.
"This agreement is the most important strategic diplomatic initiative undertaken by President Bush," said Lugar from the US leader's Republican Party.
He urged senators, some of whom are still wary of the deal, to vote in favour of the legislation "without conditions that would kill the agreement."
Under the deal, India, a non-signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), would be allowed access to long-denied civilian nuclear technology in return for placing its atomic reactors under global safeguards.
To facilitate the deal, the US Congress has to create an exception for India from some of the requirements of the US Atomic Energy Act, which currently prohibits nuclear sales to non-NPT signatories.
The US House of Representatives gave its thumbs-up to the deal in July but a Senate vote had been delayed due to legislative elections last week that resulted in Democratic control of both chambers in the new Congress from January.
It is unclear how the current Republican-controlled Senate would vote on it this week even though leaders of both Republican and Democratic parties have called for its approval. A Senate approval, however, is not the final step in the process. It will set the rules for subsequent Congressional consideration of a comprehensive US-India agreement incorporating international safeguards, among other things.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2006