The US is finalising steps to remove longstanding barriers to civil nuclear cooperation with India as it seeks to capitalise on the Asian nation’s ambition plans for reactor development and deployment.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a trip to India that “formal paperwork will be done soon” to scrap regulations that prevented Indian entities and US companies from cooperating on civil nuclear energy projects.

“This will be an opportunity to turn the page on some of the frictions of the past,” he said on 6 January in a speech at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. “This is a statement of confidence in the progress we’ve made and the progress we will continue to make as strategic partners.”

Washington and New Delhi have been discussing the supply of US nuclear reactors to India since the mid-2000s.