Sharply reacting to US Ambassador David C Mulford's remarks on the future of Indo-US nuclear deal, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran Thursday summoned him and bluntly stated that his comments were "inappropriate" and "not conducive to building a strong partnership" between the two countries.     

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"The foreign secretary called in the US Ambassador Thursday afternoon to convey to him that the remarks made by him in an interview to PTI were inappropriate and not conducive to building a strong partnership between our two independent democracies," external affairs ministry spokesman said in a statement.

Mulford expressed his "sincere regrets" saying his remarks had been taken "out of context" and that "it was not his intention to question India's right to take decisions on various issues on the basis of its own national interest," the statement said.

The foreign secretary and the ambassador agreed that the two sides would "work closely together for a successful visit by President George W Bush [Images] to India," the statement said.