Pakistan vowed on Tuesday to work to prevent non-nuclear states from gaining the technology that would put them on the path to acquiring nuclear weapons in a pledge delivered by Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.

Aziz was speaking at a multi-nation conference on non-proliferation in Islamabad, attended by representatives of South and Central Asia, as well as China and Russia.

Aziz told participants at the Islamabad conference that Pakistan has implemented regulatory precautions to avoid siphoning off technology into the wrong hands.

The two-day conference also includes representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and Interpol.

Pakistan is signatory to the 13-year-old United Nations resolution aimed at curbing the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, with a particular emphasis on preventing non-state actors from getting their hands on massively destructive technology as well as materials.

When India started down the nuclear road by launching its program in the early 1970s, Pakistan was quick to follow.

The tensions between the two countries neither of which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement have raised the specter of a nuclear confrontation between the two hostile neighbors.

Pakistan has come under sanctions in the past because of its nuclear weapons program and as a result has run into shortages of spare parts for its nuclear reactors that provide energy.

It has also been critical of US support for India's inclusion in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which devises guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports.