Indo-Pak talks beginning October 18 to focus on nuclear CBMs

India and Pakistan are scheduled to begin their next round of talks in New Delhi on October 18 which will focus on steps required to enhance Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), particularly on the nuclear aspect.

New Delhi, Oct 16 : India and Pakistan are scheduled to begin their next round of talks in New Delhi on October 18 which will focus on steps required to enhance Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), particularly on the nuclear aspect.

During the two-day talks, the first day would see discussions of conventional CBMs led by T C A Raghavan, Joint Secretary (PAI), in the Ministry of External Affairs from the Indian side, and Pakistani side will be led by Aizaz Ahmed Choudhary, Director General (South Asia) in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Representatives from Defence Ministry and Home Ministry from both sides would be present in the meeting.

"Arrangements to deal with inadvertent crossers, an Agreement on Prevention of Incidents at Sea and other Confidence Building Measures would be discussed," a release issued by the External Affairs Ministry stated.

A separate day has been kept aside for the talks on nuclear CBMs which would be led K C Singh, Additional Secretary (IO), in the Ministry of External Affairs from the Indian side.

Khalid Aziz Babar, who is the Additional Secretary (UN and EC) in their Foreign Affairs Ministry, will lead the Pakistani side.

The Indian delegation would include, representatives from Defence Ministry, Department of Atomic Energy, National Security Council Secretariat and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Both sides are expected to review the progress made in the implementation of existing agreements and security issues in multilateral fora.

ANI