NEW DELHI, Oct 19: India and Pakistan on Friday held another round of expert-level talks on nuclear and missiles-related confidence building measures (CBMs). The daylong meeting, part of the Composite Dialogue, took place in a “cordial and constructive atmosphere,” a joint statement issued at the end of the talks said.
The agenda included a review of existing agreements on nuclear CBMs as well as discussion on disarmament and non-proliferation-related issues of mutual interest in multilateral forums.
These two areas of talks were part of the Lahore memorandum of understanding signed between the foreign secretaries of the two sides in 1999, which was related to nuclear risk reduction following the nuclear tests the previous year.K.C. Singh, additional secretary (international organisations) in the ministry of external affairs led the Indian delegation, while the Pakistani side was headed by Khalid Aziz Babar, additional secretary, ministry of foreign affairs. The next round of talks will take place in Islamabad.
India and Pakistan will hold the second meeting of their joint anti-terror mechanism here on Monday.
Meanwhile, Islamabad and New Delhi have almost finalised the list of goods to be traded across the Line of Control, adds APP.
The Indian Express reported on Friday that India had proposed 14 items for export, of which Pakistan had objected to five. India allowed six of the 16 items proposed by Pakistan.
According to the daily, it was decided in a meeting of a committee of secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar that duty concessions on trade should exclude items on the sensitive list under Safta. The meeting debated the list of items and modalities for border trade.
The final decision on the lists and modalities is expected to be taken by the departments of revenue and agriculture and cooperation which will then inform the ministry of external affairs for inclusion of the matter in the agenda for the next LoC meeting.
