13 February 2004	Friday	21 Zilhaj 1424

WARSAW, Feb 12: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri called on Thursday for cooperation between nuclear states to prevent criminal groups getting their hands on nuclear weapons.

"The greatest danger that (US) President (George W.) Bush rightfully pointed out is the threat of non-state actors," Mr Kasuri told a news conference on the second and final day of a visit to Poland, the first ever by Pakistan's foreign minister.

"You deal with non-state actors by interacting with states," he said, adding, "cooperative engagement, constructive engagement with nuclear states" was needed. He was referring to a call from President Bush on Wednesday for global support for tighter curbs on nuclear know-how, taking aim at North Korea, Iran, and black-market sales by Pakistan's former top atomic expert Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Mr Kasuri reiterated that Pakistan was not involved in nuclear proliferation, saying Dr Khan would have acted in a personal capacity and not on behalf of his country.

"If there has been cooperation it was on a personal level, not the state of Pakistan," he said, ruling out any collaboration with the North Korean authorities on missile technology.

"We have a more advanced programme than Korea has. If there has been cooperation it was on a personal level, not the state of Pakistan," he said. He also said international investigations had shown that Libya and Iran had not become nuclear powers.

"Despite proliferation Libya and Iran were unable to become nuclear powers," he said. "It is very unlikely that if states cannot get nuclear weapons, how can groups have them?"

Questioned during the news conference on prospects for relations with India following a peace initiative, he called for "flexibility." "There will be no solution unless there is flexibility on both sides," he said. -AFP

MOU SIGNED: Both countries also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on bilateral consultations between the foreign ministers, adds APP. From Pakistan, Mr Kasuri and Poland his counterpart, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewiec signed the protocol.

Mr Kasuri said the two sides exchanged views on a wide range of issues, including bilateral cooperation in energy, coal mining, sugar beet and agricultural machinery as well as exchange of students, scholars and scientific cooperation.

They also agreed to explore all possibilities to provide momentum to economic and commercial relations as well as in other areas. Mr Kasuri also called on President Aleksander Kwasniewski, also called on Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Interior and Administration Jozef Oleksy and exchanged views with him on important issues of common interest.

He hoped that after becoming a full fledged member of the European Union in May Poland will continue to take demonstrable interest in matters of concern to Pakistan.