External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will arrive here on Sunday for crucial talks with top US officials that are likely to be dominated by the civilian nuclear deal which he has said India can neither "mend" nor "end". It is also the first visit at this level since Natwar Singh came here in April 2005.

"Since then there has been no bilateral foreign minister visit and hence this is highly important," a senior official said.

Mukherjee will hold talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other cabinet and administration officials including those of the National Security Council.

Amid speculation that the civilan nuclear agreement, touted by the US as the "centrepiece" of its ties with India, has been put on backburner following threats from the Left parties to pull the rug, Mukherjee yesterday told the Parliament that the government can neither "mend" nor "end" the nuclear deal.
Earlier, demonstrating a commitment to push the deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had told the Parliament that all efforts would be made to seek the "broadest possible consensus" on the issue.

The US has pressed India to push the deal as soon as possible with prominent lawmakers saying it should be done till July if New Delhi wanted it to be cleared under the Bush administration whose tenure is due to end early next year.

Rice will host a dinner on Monday for Mukherjee who is slated to leave on Tuesday evening to New York on his way back to India.

Mukherjee's trip adds to the number of high level visits that have taken place recently. He recently met the Defence Secretary Robert Gates. Top US Senators including Joseph Biden visited India this year and currently the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and a high level Congressional delegation are in the country.