NEW DELHI, Feb 12: India's top refiners are ready to export diesel to Pakistan but oil firms in both nations are waiting for a green light from their governments before negotiating a deal, industry officials said on Thursday.

Pakistan imports four to 4.5 million tons of diesel, mostly from Kuwait, but forbids purchases from neighbour and nuclear rival India. India exports more than five million tons of diesel a year and is eyeing Pakistan as a market, particularly after Pakistan Petroleum Secretary M. Abdullah Yusuf said in New Delhi last month Islamabad was willing to review the ban.

"We have sent this proposal a few days back and recommended the government allow diesel imports from India. I hope sooner, rather than later, a decision will be taken," Mr Yusuf told Reuters on Thursday. Indian officials say talks on exports can begin after the foreign ministry gives the go ahead.

After a landmark meeting between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf last month, officials from both nations will meet in Islamabad next week for the first formal high-level talks in almost three years.

"The oil companies have their plans to export diesel to Pakistan but we will strictly go by the advice of the foreign ministry," a top official in India's oil ministry told Reuters.

Reliance Industries, which operates a 660,000-barrels-a-day refinery, India's largest, has already offered diesel to state-run Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

"Yes, they approached us but we will only talk to them when the government lifts the ban," a PSO spokesman said. A senior PSO official, who did not want to be named, said the two companies had not yet discussed prices or volumes.

"Presently, it's only a proposal and an offer lying on the table like many others," he said. Indian refiners, facing an oversupplied domestic market, are vying for a foothold in Pakistan. Reliance officials say their refinery in western India, close to Pakistan, is ideally located.

State-run Indian Oil Corp, which accounts for more than 40 per cent of the 2.4 million barrels of crude oil processed in Indian refineries, says it is also well placed. IOC officials say the company's pipelines run close to the Pakistan border and it could send diesel by road or train. -Reuters