Islamabad, (IANS) Pakistan and India are likely to finalise agreements on inadvertent border crossings and accidents at sea during talks on conventional confidence-building measures (CBMs) in New Delhi Oct 18.
“Officials believe finalisation of the two agreements would give a major boost to the talks between the two countries,” Daily Times reported Monday.
Two separate teams led by officials of the foreign affairs ministry are to leave for New Delhi for talks on conventional and nuclear CBMs Oct 18-19.
Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, the director general for South Asia at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, will lead the first team, which will include up to five officials, mainly from the foreign office. It will hold talks Oct 18 on conventional CBMs with Indian officials led by T.C.A. Raghavan, joint secretary for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.
The second team, headed by additional secretary (United Nations) Khalid Aziz Babar, will hold talks on nuclear-related CBMs on Oct 19 with Indian officials.
The Pakistani team will include at least five officials, including the director general for South Asia at the foreign affairs ministry and senior officials of the Strategic Planning Division (SPD).
The Indian side will be headed by additional secretary (International Organisations) K.C. Singh.
Two officials from the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi, including High Commissioner Shahid Malik will also participate in the talks.
“The two sides will discuss modalities to improve the level of trust between the two countries in the field of non-conventional weapons, but no specific agreement in this regard (is envisaged),” Daily Times said.
This will be the fifth round of talks between India and Pakistan on conventional and nuclear CBMs. The previous round was held in Islamabad in April 2006.
India and Pakistan signed an agreement on nuclear risk reduction in New Delhi on Feb 21.