Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns will leave for the Indian capital on Tuesday after giving a detailed account of US policy towards India on the same day, the State Department said.

Burns would "further our historic partnership to promote democratic values, combat terrorism, support economic growth, expand bilateral activities and commerce, and achieve peace and stability in the region and beyond," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the signing of a bilateral pact Monday.

Under the umbrella science and technology agreement signed between Rice and India's minister of state for science and technology Kapil Sibal, the world's two biggest democracies would boost cooperation in areas ranging from health to space technology.

Burns is scheduled to deliver an address on US-India relations at a function of the New York-based Asia Society on Tuesday, where he would give "a comprehensive account of US policy toward India," a State Department statement said.

His speech comes exactly three months after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's met with President George W. Bush in Washington, a meeting which led to a groundbreaking pact on a wide range of cooperative initiatives and the launching of a new strategic partnership.

Burns was instrumental in developing the partnership agreement, including civil nuclear energy cooperation, which he called "the high-water mark of US-India relations since 1947."

The controversial nuclear deal -- under which Washington agreed to lift a ban on civilian atomic technology sales to India -- is expected to be among the key areas Burns would touch upon during his trip.

India is a nuclear armed nation but not a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The United States had placed sanctions on India after its second round of nuclear tests in May 1998, but agreed after the September 11, 2001 attacks to waive those and other sanctions in return for support in the war on terrorism.

India last month was accused by some groups of caving in to US pressure in supporting a resolution which opens the door to reporting Iran to the UN Security Council for violating international nuclear safeguards.

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