WASHINGTON: The United States and India signed a deal here Tuesday aimed at promoting the development of technology that will produce cleaner forms of energy.

The memorandum of understanding was signed by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and India's external affairs minister S M Krishna, during a high-profile visit to Washington by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The deal will "enhance cooperation on energy security, energy efficiency, clean energy and climate change," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.

"Both countries will work jointly to accelerate development and deployment of clean energy technologies and to strengthen cooperation on adaptation to climate change, climate science and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from forests and land use," he added.

Clinton noted that the deal was signed in the run-up to the UN conference on climate change, which is scheduled to take place in Copenhagen from December 7-18.

The United States, the European Union and Japan are trying to convince China and India to pledge cuts in the greenhouse gases that cause climate change. China is the largest emitter of such gases, while India is the fourth largest.

Details of the agreement were not immediately released.

Clinton said only that India and the United States would establish a research and development institute for clean energy, which will have facilities in both countries.

Krishna said the accord "will go a long way in helping India to overcome its energy crisis and this will also lay the foundation for the expanding of areas of interaction between our two countries."

- AFP/sc