Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed the hope that Japan would support India-US civil nuclear deal at Nuclear Supplier's Group (NSG) in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Speaking at a joint press conference after signing an agreement with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, Singh said he did not back down on the nuclear deal with the US, and asked Japan for help on the deal.

Commenting on the standoff between India's ruling coalition and the Left parties over the India-US nuclear deal, Singh said there was some turbulence, but he also expressed his confidence to overcome it. He said, "When winter comes, spring cannot be far behind."

"The two leaders shared the view that nuclear energy can play an important role as a safe, sustainable and non-polluting source of energy in meeting the rising global demand for energy," a joint statement issued by the two prime ministers said.

"They looked forward to constructive deliberations at the relevant international for a with respect to the international civil nuclear cooperation framework under appropriate IAEA safeguards with India, " said the statement.

Earlier, Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Mitsuo Sakaba told reporters that Japan was "carefully examining" the India-US civil nuclear deal and that Tokyo's "position on this matter has been one of non-decision till now."

Japan, a key member of the NSG, has not showed its stance on India-US nuclear deal mainly on account of the fact that India has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

At present, the Left parties, which extend outside support to Singh's government, have made it clear they will not budge on their opposition to the India-US nuclear deal, saying the support to the government would be withdrawn if the government goes ahead and negotiates a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the NSG.

Abe is on a three-day visit to India since Tuesday. He arrived here from Indonesia and will go to Malaysia Friday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2007)