US National Security Adviser James Jones is arriving in the Capital for two days of talks with the Indian establishment. His principal interlocutor here will be National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon.

Menon and Jones, who have been meeting frequently on the sidelines of various international gatherings during the past few months, will explore the possible give and take during the Obama visit, which is expected to take place in early November.

Wrapping up the implementation of the historic India-US civil nuclear deal and dismantling the remaining vestiges of the technology denial regime against India are subjects that figure high on the agenda.

The two officials are also likely to firm up plans for structured cooperation between the National Security Council staff in Washington and Delhi.

During the first round of strategic dialogue in Washington last month, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had made the case, in public and in private, for removing various Indian entities, such as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and the Indian Space Research Organisation, from the so-called American list of foreign entities slapped with technology sanctions.

Krishna also urged his American interlocutors to put India in a higher category of strategic partners that enjoy liberal access to advanced and dual use technologies in the US. The Obama Administration had agreed to consider the Indian requests seriously. It is now the turn of Menon and Jones to find practical ways to get this done.

Meanwhile, Delhi is said to be looking beyond the mere lifting of US national controls on high technology exports to India. It would like to be part of international bodies, like the Nuclear Suppliers Group, that draft the guidelines for the export of special technologies and materials.

Only a full membership of these multilateral groupings would complete the political reconciliation between India and the global non-proliferation order.

Indian membership of the Nuclear Suppliers' Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Wassenaar Arrangement, which addresses the armaments trade, and the Australia Group, which deals with chemical weapons, would require mobilising the political consent of the current members.

Washington, on its part, would want the removal of the last barriers for the full implementation of the civil nuclear initiative, including the passage of a liability legislation that is in tune with international standards.

The Obama Administration has been signalling strong interest in winning a share of the rapidly expanding Indian defence market. Speaking in Washington earlier this month, US Under Secretary of Defence Michele Flournoy promised to offer "top of the line" defence technologies to India.

She also underlined the ongoing efforts in Washington to streamline and modernise US export controls that would allow the building of solid defence technology partnerships with countries like India.

Among the other actionable ideas under consideration for the Obama visit are expanding cooperation in maritime security, strengthening the partnership in outer space and initiating a new engagement in cyber-security.