The United States has agreed to improve co-operation with Israel on non-sensitive nuclear and other energy technologies.

Washington had previously declared Israel a sensitive country because it has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

However the American Energy Secretary, Bill Richardson, said the new agreement "was a signal that Israel was a friendly country".

"It is not treated in a similar fashion to others on our list of sensitive countries," he said.

Sceintific co-operation

The agreement will allow Israeli scientists access to US nuclear technology that had previously been denied.

Co-operation between Israeli and American scientists and exchanges of equipment will become a matter of course in nuclear and solar energy areas.

Another US official said the new agreements would allow greater possibilities for verification of the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty.

"We are improving our co-sensor and monitoring technology for improving the overall verification for the test ban treaty," Rose Gottemoeller, of the US Office of Non-Proliferation, said.

The deal was agreed without Israel changing its policy on the NPT, or its military nuclear programmes.

Israel's nuclear programme

Israel is widely believed to have a sophisticated military nuclear weapons programme.

It has never officially admitted to this, and maintains a policy of 'nuclear ambiguity', saying that it will not be the first country to introduce them to the Middle East.

Israel has two nuclear facilities, a nuclear reactor at Dimona in the Negev desert, and a smaller nuclear research facility at Nahal Sorek south of Tel Aviv.

Dimona is believed to house Israel's military nuclear capability.

Mordechai Vanunu, an Israeli nuclear technician, was jailed in 1986 for 18 years after leaking information about Israel's stockpiling of nuclear weapons at Dimona.