Washington  - The US House of Representatives could vote as early as Friday on a White House plan that would allow the United States to sell civilian nuclear technology and material to India.

The Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Howard Berman, has introduced the agreement to lawmakers and a vote could take place Friday afternoon, spokeswoman Lynne Weil said.

The Senate must also pass the agreement, signed by President George W Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006, but has not scheduled a vote. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the accord on Tuesday. Legislative aides predict the agreement will pass both chambers.

Bush urged Congress to quickly approve the historic deal before going into recess ahead of the November 4 elections. The agreement is at the top of his foreign policy agenda as he prepares to leave office, and it is seen as the cornerstone of stronger diplomatic and economic ties between the two countries.

Bush met with Singh at the White House on Thursday and assured him the his administration was working to win prompt passage of the deal before the current congressional session ends in the coming days.

"It's taken a lot of work on both our parts, a lot of courage on your part," Bush said. "And so we're working hard to get it passed as quickly as possible."

Since the two leaders signed the deal, both countries have been in complicated negotiations to implement it, mainly to ensure US technology could not be used in India's nuclear weapons programme.

India's refusal to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which is designed to prevent the spread of dangerous nuclear material, complicated the negotiations and remains a sticking point in Congress.

Berman said he urged lawmakers to approve the agreement after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured him that the United States will seek an international ban on exporting uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing equipment and technology to countries that have not signed the NPT.

Uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing can be used to develop nuclear weapons.

Earlier this month, an organization of 45 countries known as the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) granted a US-backed waiver for India to purchase nuclear material on the international market. The waiver was required under rules banning sales to non-NPT members.

Berman said Rice will take up his demands at a meeting of the NSG in November.

The deal had been hung up earlier this year in Singh's governing coalition. Smaller parties argued that the agreement compromised India's sovereignty because of US demands for the opening to international inspections of India's civilian nuclear reactors - but not military facilities.

That opposition softened in July after Singh prevailed in a parliamentary vote of confidence. India was also required to separate its civilian and military programmes.

The White House has warned that failing to approve the deal will leave US companies out of India's lucrative energy sector, as France and Russia have moved to complete similar arrangements with New Delhi.

The United States had refused to cooperate with India's nuclear energy programme since the country first detonated an atomic bomb in 1974.

"For 34 years, India has suffered from a nuclear apartheid. We have not been able to trade in nuclear materials, nuclear reactors, nuclear raw materials," Singh said at the meeting with Bush.

The US Chamber of Commerce has urged Congress to back the accord, saying it would allow US companies to benefit from the 150 billion dollars India is expected to invest in its energy sector through 2030. The Chamber of Commerce said the deal could create thousands of high-tech jobs in the United States. (dpa)