ISLAMABAD, Aug 11: Japan on Wednesday announced plans to examine resumption of multi-million yen loans to Pakistan and asked Islamabad to stop production of ballistic missiles and sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Appreciating Pakistan's sharing of information about the alleged nuclear proliferation activities of the Khan network, Tokyo requested Islamabad to provide it any new information it got about the network and its connections to different countries, especially North Korea.

Pakistan's reservations on the NPT and the CTBT were conveyed by Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri during his meeting with visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi.

Details of meetings the Japanese foreign minister held on Wednesday with President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shujaat Hussain and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri were given to the press in two press conferences.

The Japanese foreign minister is on a two-day official visit to Pakistan and is scheduled to visit New Delhi on Thursday. President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shujaat assured Ms Kawaguchi of Pakistan's sincere commitment to non-proliferation, said a press release issued by the foreign office.

The president and the prime minister expressed appreciation for the valuable economic assistance Japan had provided to Pakistan and renewed an invitation for Prime Minister Koizumi to visit Pakistan.

During the meeting with President Musharraf, Ms Kawaguchi expressed support for his initiative of enlightened moderation and indicated Japan's willingness to study Pakistan's developmental needs for providing Official Development Assistance (ODA) under which soft yen loans could be provided to Pakistan.

Japan suspended the ODA after the May 1998 nuclear tests by Pakistan. Speaking at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Kasuri, Ms Kawaguchi appreciated Pakistan's role as a frontline state against international terrorism, nuclear proliferation, weapons of mass destruction and to bring peace and stability in the world.

"We feel that the role Pakistan is playing in fighting terrorism and nuclear proliferation cannot be replaced by any other country. We are grateful for the role Pakistan is playing for the peace and stability, not only of the region but for peace and stability of the whole world," she said.

Ms Kawaguchi expressed satisfaction over information provided to Japan about the proliferation activities of Dr A.Q. Khan's nuclear network. "We have been asking Pakistan to provide us with information. Pakistan has been doing it. We expect the cooperation would continue," she said.

On the nuclear export control regime, Ms Kawaguchi said Pakistan had made enormous efforts to have the regime firmly in place within Pakistan so that nuclear proliferation did not happen from here again.

She reiterated Japan's long-standing demand the Pakistan, India and Israel should sign the NPT and the CTBT and stop production of nuclear weapons. However, she made it clear that the resumption of Japanese aid to Pakistan was not conditional to Islamabad's signing of the NPT.

While making Pakistan's position on the NPT clear, Mr Kasuri said Pakistan's nuclear programme was of a defensive nature. He said it would be unrealistic to expect Pakistan to do something that could lower the threshold of its security.

He said Pakistan was mindful of Japan's security concerns and its position on nuclear proliferation. He said Pakistan was keeping Japan fully informed about the steps being taken to check nuclear proliferation.

Mr Kasuri said his talks with the Japanese foreign minister focussed on counter-terrorism, disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation and regional and international issues.

Announcing the future framework of talks with Japan on multi-faceted issues, he said Pakistan's foreign secretary and Japan's vice-minister would meet in October to discuss bilateral and strategic matters. He said he also would visit Tokyo to boost ties between the two countries.

Mr Kasuri said the Pakistan-Japan business dialogue would be held in February 2005 in Karachi, while the Pakistan-Japan economic and security dialogue would continue.

A press release issued by the Japanese embassy in the evening said the two foreign ministers also exchanged views on holding consultations on disarmament and non-proliferation in order to reinforce the dialogue.

Pakistan appreciated Japan's recent assistance, including the provision of fuel oil by vessels of Maritime Self-Defence Force of Japan to Pakistan's naval ships participating in the Maritime Coalition Force operating in the Indian Ocean, the press release added.

Replying to questions at a press conference in the evening, Japan's director-general for press and public relations, Hatsuhisa Takashima, said it would be an ideal situation if all the recipient countries of Japanese ODA adhered to the loan conditionalities by restricting their nuclear and missile activities.

Asked to elaborate on disarmament and non-proliferation issues, he said the Pakistan government should refrain from developing ballistic missiles and adhere to and respect the terms and conditions of the code of conduct which made it obligatory on the international community to stop proliferation of technology of parts and products of the weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.

Appreciating the role of Pakistan in stopping the activities of Dr Khan's network, Mr Takashima said information-sharing should be extended whenever Islamabad obtained new information on the activities of Dr Khan, especially his connections with North Korea.

He said Foreign Minister Kawaguchi raised the issue of North Korea during her meetings, saying its clandestine nuclear programme posed a major threat to Japan. He said North Korea had already declared that it had nuclear deterrence. There was a strong suspicion that North Korea also had a nuclear enrichment programme, he said.

He said there was a very serious security threat to Japan and the international community from North Korea and that was the reason Japan put so much emphasis on having information about Dr Khan's network.

Answering a question about Ms Kawaguchi's visit to India, Mr Takashima said the issue of Kashmir would come up during her discussions with the Indian leaders as it did during the meeting with Mr Kasuri.

He said Japan wanted a peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the Kashmir dispute with the welfare of people in Kashmir being the number one priority issue. Mr Takashima said Japan hoped that the current talks between Pakistan and India would lead to a stopping of arms race.