President Bush Wednesday renewed his pressure on New Delhi to act on the issue. However, the president made his call in the context of an upbeat address delivered to the Asia Society that focused on the positive aspects of growing economic and strategic ties between the world's two largest democratic and English-speaking nations.

The president sought to defuse growing protectionist sentiments in the United States by telling the American people that they should not fear U.S. jobs going to India. As long as American companies remained competitive, growing trade ties would mean more jobs for U.S. workers and farmers, he said.

The president praised the rapidly growing trade ties and cooperation between the United States and India in the areas of agriculture, business and energy. And he called for "patience from both our countries" in implementing the far-reaching civilian nuclear technology agreement that he reached with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2005.

"This is not an easy decision for India, nor is it an easy decision for the United States," Bush said. "Implementing this agreement will take patience from both our countries."

The agreement has been criticized by anti-nuclear and anti-nuclear proliferation activists in the United States for allegedly failing to force India to separate its civilian and military nuclear programs.

Bush said he would continue to encourage India to create what he called a credible, transparent and defensible plan to separate the two programs and to implement the anti-proliferation and security safeguards that some American activists and experts were calling for.

The president's generally optimistic, upbeat tone has been mirrored by Indian officials preparing for the visit. On Tuesday, Ronan Sen, India's ambassador to Washington, told an audience at the National Press Club, "We are confident that during the forthcoming visit of President Bush to India, and in the months and years to come, the close partnership between India and the United States will continue to intensify and strengthen."

Bush will be only the fifth U.S. president to visit New Delhi since India's independence in 1947. His visit comes seven months after Singh last visited Washington.

Sen said that the recent frequency of summit meetings and bilateral exchanges has characterized a newer, "multi-dimensional" relationship between the two countries.

"The First Lady and the President will find a warm welcome in a country where, notwithstanding a sometimes noisy minority, the predominant popular sentiment is for stronger partnership with the United States," he said.

India is "a country with one of the world's oldest civilizations and one of the world's youngest populations," Sen said. It is the world's largest democracy in terms of population.

Expectations are high for the visit to continue to build on important bilateral ties.

Bush is expected to sign a controversial civilian nuclear agreement with India during his trip in early March.

Sen highlighted converging security interests between the two nations, saying, "Defense ties by their very nature are based on a relationship of mutual trust and long-term commitment."

Last year India and the United States completed the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership initiative, a program designed to expand cooperation on civilian nuclear activities, civilian space programs, high technology trade and missile defense.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee also signed a 10-year defense framework document to provide for more technology sharing, intelligence and joint weapons production.

This agreement came 10 years after the United States and India signed an earlier defense treaty and seven years after India conducted its first wave of nuclear testing, inducing Washington to break-off the prior relationship.

"Democracies remain a prime target for terrorism and they are also the best defense against it," said Sen. He emphasized the United States and Indian initiative to fight terrorism, saying that India has been "bearing the brunt from our neighborhood," for many years.

"We will continue to combat this dangerous phenomenon as long as it exists," he said.

However, India has explicitly stated that it will not allow any third party, including the United States, to mediate in the country's discourse with Pakistan over the disputed Kashmir region.

"India is not a city that can ever be a follower of another city, but we can be good, reliable, strategic partners," said Sen.

"The forthcoming visit of President Bush is full of promise and will chart a course of promise for the future," he said.

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