New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) US Ambassador David C. Mulford Wednesday reiterated his country's commitment to honouring the nuclear agreement with India and said that the pact's goalposts were not being shifted.

"The procedural movements and debates in American politics are often baffling to our friends around the world, but we will honour the agreement that has been reached," Mulford told the Third Indo-Us Economic Summit organised here by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce.

"The goalposts are not being moved; it is a civil nuclear agreement and, when finally implemented, it will mark a new level of trust and cooperation in our partnership," he said.

Mulford pointed out that in the last two years there has been considerable progress in the US-India ties.

As the implementation of the US-India civilian nuclear energy agreement requires a change in the US law, a bill has been moved which has been approved by the House of Representatives while the Senate is yet to take it up.

Mulford expressed the hope that the Senate would vote on the bill this month.

"We both need to move forward on this legal framework expeditiously, working hard to complete the process before the present Congress completes its term this year," he said.

Stressing the importance of the agreement, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said: "There is a large body of restrictions on the US side related to the nuclear issue that forms an invisible barrier to trade and investment on the part of both Indian and American businesses."

This is "particularly so in the area of high-technology trade and cooperation, so vital to the advancement of the economies of our two countries", said Mukherjee.

The defence minister, however, added that once the US Congress passed the nuclear cooperation bill "in the form reflecting the understanding between the two governments, it is my belief and hope that the Indo-US cooperation will finally come into its own."

Mukherjee echoed Mulford's views that there was ample scope for bilateral trade between India and the US to grow and even double over the next three years to $60 billion.

In the first five months of the current calendar year, the bilateral trade was around $12 billion.

"It is well set to overtake last year's figure of $26.8 billion, which itself was up from $21.6 billion in 2004. Our aim is to double the bilateral trade to $60 billion within the next three years," said Mukherjee.

On oft-repeated comments, including from Mulford, that India's reforms process had slowed, the minister said that there could be minor hitches in the process but "mechanisms are in place to identify bottlenecks and to remove them".

The setting up of the Trade Policy Forum last year had provided a useful mechanism for removing irritants to trade growth, Mukherjee said.

The defence minister urged US companies to explore the scope for joint ventures in defence research and production.

With a new transparent policy in place for defence procurements and level playing field offered through offset obligations, Mukherjee said the US companies could explore opportunities of entering the fray in collaboration with Indian private companies.

He assured that a "roadmap for indirect offsets (obligations) is also under consideration" which is expected to pave the way for arms dealers to invest in infrastructure projects as part of their trade obligations for deals over Rs.3 billion.