The Hindu : Front Page : India, Pakistan to continue with nuclear CBMs

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 20, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

India, Pakistan to continue with nuclear CBMs

Special Correspondent

— Photo: V. Sudershan

Towards better ties: Additional Secretary in External Affairs Ministry, K.C. Singh (right), with his Pakistani counterpart, Khalid Aziz Babar (left), during the nine-member delegation meeting on conventional confidence-building measures, in New Delhi on Friday.

NEW DELHI: The fifth round of the India-Pakistan expert-level talks on nuclear and missiles related confidence building measures (CBMs) held here on Friday reviewed the implementation of the existing agreements and resolved to continue with them in order to avoid tensions from mistrust or military brinkmanship.

Under the CBMs, both sides provide advance information about missile tests and agree to abide by their unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests. The two sides also discussed disarmament and non-proliferation related issues of common interest in multilateral forums as provided for in the Lahore Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of 1999.

Cordial talks

“The talks were held in a cordial and constructive atmosphere. The two sides agreed to meet in Islamabad to carry forward the dialogue and the process of confidence-building in the nuclear and missile area,” said a joint statement at the end of the meeting.

The Indian delegation was led by Additional Secretary (International Organisations) K. C. Singh, while his counterpart Khalid Aziz Babar led the Pakistan team. Both sides decided to hold the second round of the Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism (JATM) on October 22 with Mr. Singh and Mr. Babar leading the two teams.

Discussions in the meeting will follow the mandate when the JATM was constituted after the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Havana on September 16. The first meeting of the JATM was held in Islamabad in March this year.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page