The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has welcomed a nuclear agreement between the US and India.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief (IAEA) Mohammed ElBaradei said it would boost non-proliferation efforts.
Britain and France also hailed the deal, while Pakistan - India's regional nuclear rival - said it wanted the same level of co-operation with the US.
Under the deal, India gets access to US civil nuclear technology and opens its nuclear facilities to inspection.
US President George W Bush - who finalised the agreement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi - called the accord "historic".
However, there was a mixed reaction to the news from Delhi in Washington, and Mr Bush admitted it might be hard to get it through the US Congress, which must ratify it.
The BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington says Mr Bush has a fight on his hands, after being accused of sending out the wrong signal just as America and its allies try to limit Iran's nuclear ambitions.
India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Under the agreement, India will classify 14 of its 22 nuclear facilities as being for civilian use, and thus open to inspection.
Many supporters of the NPT believe the deal ignores India's nuclear weapons programme.
'Milestone'
Mr ElBaradei said the US-Indian deal would end Delhi's nuclear isolation and spur non-proliferation efforts.
"It would be a milestone, timely for ongoing efforts to consolidate the non-proliferation regime, combat nuclear terrorism and strengthen nuclear safety," he said.
Mr ElBaradei also said the agreement was "an important step towards satisfying India's growing need for energy".
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the accord could "make a significant contribution to energy security... as well as representing a net gain for the non-proliferation regime".
French President Jacques Chirac, who signed a similar deal with India last month, said the agreement would help fight climate change and non-proliferation efforts.
Pakistan's 'claim'
China said the deal "must conform with provisions of the international non-proliferation regime".
Some experts believe that one of Washington's objective in reaching the deal with India is to contain Beijing.
Pakistan - India's regional rival - said it would be pressing the US to give Islamabad the same kind of civilian nuclear co-operation.
"We also have a claim... especially because Pakistan is a fossil fuel-deficit country," Pakistani foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told the BBC.
However, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told India's Zee News that "this is not the time for such an arrangement with Pakistan".
"Everyone knows that there have been concerns in terms of proliferation with Pakistan," she said in an apparent reference to a recent row around Pakistan's top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who admitted to leaking nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya and Iran.
(BBC)
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