NEW DELHI (AP) – India and the United States plan to resume talks on a much-touted civilian nuclear cooperation agreement when the top American negotiator visits New Delhi this week in a push to overcome obstacles that threaten to scuttle the pact, the U.S. embassy said Sunday.

Word that U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is coming to New Delhi follows reports earlier this month that he had put off a visit because the two sides were too far apart on a number of key issues.

How wide a gap remains between the two sides is still an open question. The U.S. embassy in New Delhi would only say that Burns is coming Thursday for a two-day visit, and pointed to a statement he made earlier this month about the deal.

"This is the right agreement for us and we need to make a final push to cement it," Burns said in a May 23 talk at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank. "Like all good things, this will take time and more compromise from both countries."

Still, Burns' visit was the first bit of good news for the deal since an earlier round of high-level talks ended on May 1 with an optimistic pronouncement that he would be coming to India in the last half of May to finalize the pact, heralded as the first step in an emerging strategic partnership between New Delhi and Washington.

In the weeks since those talks ended, the optimism has given way to more neutral tones from officials on both sides.

In fact, a meeting between Indian and American technical teams was set up last week in London because it looked certain that Burns would not be heading to India.

Officials did not say Sunday if Burns' visit was prompted by progress at those talks.

But he was coming days before U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to discuss the deal with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when the two meet next month on the sidelines of a G-8 summit in Germany.

The nuclear deal, first struck by Bush and Singh in July 2005, would allow the United States to ship nuclear fuel and know-how to India in exchange for safeguards and U.N. inspections at India's 14 civilian nuclear plants. Eight military plants would be off-limits.

Critics on both sides complain that too much has been given to the other for too little in return, and the countries still need to settle significant differences.

Among the sticking points is India's displeasure with a clause that allows the United States to halt cooperation if New Delhi tests a nuclear weapon. Some in India also fear the deal could limit India's right to reprocess spent atomic fuel, a key step in making weapons-grade nuclear material, and thus hamper its long-standing weapons program.