WASHINGTON, June 22: The United States has urged India and Pakistan to take more concrete steps to reduce nuclear risk in South Asia after a weekend agreement to set up a hotline to avoid nuclear confrontation.

US State Department's spokesman Richard Boucher told a briefing in Washington on Monday that the United States would back any move India and Pakistan make to reduce the threat of a nuclear confrontation, intentional or accidental, in South Asia.

"We do think this is an opportunity for them to make further progress and comprehensive engagement, while at the same time, agreeing on concrete steps to lower the risk of accidental or intentional use of nuclear weapons," he said.

India and Pakistan agreed on Sunday to set up a hotline to avoid nuclear confrontation and continue a ban on nuclear tests. The hotline will link their foreign secretaries.

The US spokesman, asked what message Secretary of State Colin Powell wished to convey to India and Pakistan ahead of a landmark meeting of their foreign secretaries next weekend in New Delhi, said the United States was encouraging both the governments to continue their dialogue.

Officials in Washington also have noted that the 56-year old dispute over Kashmir would also come up for discussion at the foreign secretaries meeting. Mr Boucher described the resumption of bilateral talks between South Asia's two nuclear states, India and Pakistan, as a positive development.