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Talks with Pakistan on CBMs today

B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD: A series of bilateral meetings between India and Pakistan are scheduled in New Delhi from Friday under the composite dialogue process. As per the timetable, the second round of the dialogue will be completed by the month-end.

A high-level Pakistani delegation left for New Delhi on Thursday for talks with their Indian counterparts on nuclear confidence building measures (CBMs) on August 5 and 6. Led by Tariq Osman Hyder, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the nine-member team includes Syed Ibn-e-Abbas, the newly appointed Director-General, South Asia. The Indian side will be headed by Additional Secretary, External Affairs Ministry, Meera Shankar.

Expert-level talks on conventional CBMs will be held on August 8. The Indian side will be led by Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Dileep Sinha while on the Pakistani side, it will be headed by Tariq Osman Hyder.

India and Pakistan will begin another two-day meeting on economic and commercial cooperation on August 9 and 10. The Pakistani team will be led by Commerce Secretary Tasneem Noorani. At Friday's meeting Pakistan is expected to reiterate its demand for a "reduction" of forces in Jammu and Kashmir.

Under an informal arrangement, India and Pakistan give the other advance notice on any missile tests and have agreed in principle to convert the arrangement into a formal one. The proposed agreement has been delayed as both sides are examining the legal issues.

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