Prime minister Manmohan Singh on Friday declared that there were "no irritants" in Indo-US ties as he met US president Barack Obama here and disucssed the ways to implement the civil nuclear deal.

Singh, who met Obama for the first time after latter's trip to India last November, also talked about strengthening the bonds of strategic ties put in place during the historic visit of the US president to India in November last year.

"I am very happy to report to you that today there are no irritants whatsoever in our working together in multiplicity of areas both bilaterally and on global issues," Singh said in his opening remarks.

Emerging after their over an hour long meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asia Summits, Singh said he explained to Obama the law of the land on liability issue regarding the civil nuclear deal.

"I explained to him that we have a law in place. Rules have been formulated. These rules will lie before our parliament for 30 days. Therefore, we have gone some way to respond to the concerns of American companies and within the four corners of the law of the land we are ready to address any specific grievances," said Singh.

Prime minister also said India was ready to ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.

"I also told him (Obama) that we'll ratify the Supplementary Convention... that's where the matter stands," Singh said.

Recalling the "historic visit" of Obama to India during the same time last year, Singh said, "in the last one year, we have made progress in every direction, strengthening our bilateral cooperation in investment, trade, higher education, clean energy and defence."

The prime minister noted "we have strengthened in many ways the path set out during the historic visit, whether it's civil nuclear cooperation, whether it's humanitarian relief, in disaster management, or maritime security, all the issues which unite us in our quest for a world free from war.

In his opening remarks, Obama refereed to his "extraordinary" trip to India during which the two sides strengthened the bonds of friendship, commercial links and security cooperation.

"We continue to make progress on a wide range of issues.

The bonds between our two countries are not just at the leadership level but also at personal levels," he said.

"This is an outstanding opportunity for us to continue to explore how we can work together not only on bilateral front but also at multilateral level," Obama said, identifying some of the issues as maritime security, non-proliferation and terrorism.

The two leaders exchanged pleasantries while expressing immense happiness on meeting each other once again.

Ahead of the meeting, India asserted that its domestic laws with regard to nuclear liability and compensation will have to prevail and any contention otherwise would not be realistic after the Fukushima incident.

The sources said the rules should address concerns that any foreign company could have as these make it clear that liability cannot be unlimited or unending.

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PM to Wen: India wants ''best of relations'' with China

Weeks after war of words between India and China over the exploitation of South China Sea resources, prime minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao met here on Tuesday and agreed on the need for working together as there was "enough space" and areas for them to work together for mutual benefit.

Singh told Wen that India was committed to developing the "best of relations" with China while the latter underlined that the two countries should work "hand-in-hand" to ensure that the 21st century belongs to Asia.

"We are neighbours and also large growing economies of Asia. We should cooperate bilaterally and globally," Singh told Wen as they met here on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asia Summits.

To press this point, Singh noted that whenever India and China had worked together on climate change, it has had a "positive impact" on the global stage.

Visualising "cooperative partnership" with China, Singh reminded Wen that he had said that "there is enough space in the world for both India and China to grow."

Adding on this point, Wen said, "there are enough areas in our world where India and China can enhance cooperation."

Recalling Wen's visit to India in December last year, Singh said it was a "milestone" in the bilateral relations during which the two sides discussed "new ideas and new approaches" to the relationship.

Referring to the oft-repeated contention that the 21st century should belong to Asia, the Chinese Premier said that for realisation of this goal, it is important for the two most populous countries of the world to "work hand-in-hand to forge ahead along the path of development. I have full confidence that the day of that kind of the world will arrive".

Singh, while noting that the two leaders had been meeting on the sidelines of all the ASEAN Summits held during the last six years, told Wen that he had "benefitted enormously" from his conversations with the Chinese leader on each occasion.

Earlier, expressing great pleasure in meeting Singh again, Wen said their decision to meet here to exchange views on major issues of mutual interest "shows how much importance leaders of both India and China attach to friendly relations and cooperation".

The meeting comes against the backdrop of war of words between India and China over resources of South China Sea.

China, which lays claim over entire South China Sea, had openly attacked India in September over its move to explore oil in the maritime area on offer from Vietnam. It had evoked a sharp retort from India.

    This was coupled with an incident in which an Indian Naval ship INS Airavat was threatened by the Chinese Navy while moving in that area.

    The Indian government asserts that since it was not clearly defined that the maritime area belongs wholly to China, the laws of the sea will apply.