NEW DELHI, Aug 4: A nine-member Pakistani delegation arrived here on Thursday to discuss nuclear and conventional confidence-building measures with India, but informed sources said the focus might have already shifted to preparing the grounds for the September summit of their leaders in New York.
Pakistan is hoping to clinch an agreement on pre-notification of missile tests, and its delegation leader Additional Secretary Tariq Osman Hyder sees it as the ‘most ready’ of the various CBMs on the table.
Mr Hyder said his hopes were predicated on India’s position on the issue that evolved at their last meeting. “If some things have changed, we will have to take it up from there. It takes two to tango.”
Meera Shankar, additional secretary in India’s foreign ministry, would lead her country’s side during the talks aimed at taking measures to make the region safe from an accidental nuclear disaster. The draft agreement on pre-flight testing of missiles was discussed at the last round of talks on nuclear CBMs in Islamabad last year.
