U.S. President George W. Bush hailed on Saturday the Congress's passage of a bill that will allow the United States to provide civilian nuclear fuel and technology to India.

"I am pleased that our two countries will soon have increased opportunities to work together to meet our energy needs in a manner that does not increase air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, promotes clean development, supports nonproliferation and advances our trade interests," Bush said in a statement.

"I appreciate Congress's support for the U.S.-India civil nuclear cooperation initiative. I look forward to signing this bill into law soon," Bush said.

The U.S. Congress approved the nuclear cooperation deal between the United States and India early Saturday to allow U.S. shipments of civilian nuclear fuel to India.

The Senate passed the bill following overwhelming endorsement late Friday in the House of Representatives.

The passage handed the White House a major victory at a time when the Bush administration's foreign policy is under fire on multiple fronts, and it was another signaling for concrete steps to counter China's growing influence in Asia, the New York Times said in a report on Saturday.

The nuclear agreement, which was negotiated in March by President Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, would lift a decades-long ban on nuclear sales to India put in place, in part, because of the country's refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the report said.

The arrangement requires that the fuel shipments to be for civilian use only, yet opponents of the bill said the deliveries of nuclear fuel would free up India's domestic stocks of nuclear materials for its weapons program, the report added.

Source: Xinhua