"The agreement is on track (and) is moving swiftly forward," US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard A. Boucher told a business gathering in New Delhi, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

"The US Senate will examine the contents of the agreement in September and I am sure that it will be cleared in just the way it was entered into by President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi."

Last Wednesday, the US House of Representatives voted 359-68 in favor of the legislation, a first step for the US and India towards clinching the deal which detractors in Washington say will start a nuclear arms race in South Asia.

Under the deal, India will open a series of its civilian reactors to international inspection but keep pre-selected military nuclear facilities out of public scrutiny.

India, which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, conducted a series of nuclear weapons tests in 1998 and then imposed an unilateral moratorium on further testing.

Boucher, who arrived in India last week, also called Monday for joint action against terrorism, including against groups based in Pakistan.

He made the comments after meetings with business leaders and government officials.

"The two sides discussed joint efforts to fight terrorism and felt that terrorism should be fought in all places and all its forms," Boucher said after a three-hour meeting with government officials.

"We all know there is terrorism in the (South Asia) region. Some of the terrorism is in Pakistan. Some of the groups that have designs against India still have pieces in Pakistan," he told reporters.

Indian police investigating deadly bombings on crowded commuter trains in Mumbai on July 11 have said radical Islamic outfits with links to Pakistan may have been responsible.

Police say the Students' Islamic Movement of India is suspected along with militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba in the Mumbai bombings that killed at least 183 people and wounded nearly 900.

Lashkar, which is fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, has denied involvement in the blasts.

Prime Minister Singh said "elements" across the border had a role in the attacks, in a reference to Pakistan.

Islamabad angrily denied the claims and offered to help in the investigations.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two over the disputed region of Kashmir.

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