India and Pakistan will hold the next round of expert-level talks on nuclear Confidence-Building Measures (CBMs) here on August 5 and 6, official sources said on Saturday. This will be followed by a meeting on conventional CBMs on August 8, PTI quoted the sources as saying.
The Pakistani delegation will be led by Tariq Osman Hyder, additional secretary in the Foreign Office in Islamabad. The two sides will review the progress made so far in the two rounds held on nuclear CBMs and steps to carry them forward.
Considerable progress was reported at the last round in Islamabad in December with Pakistan, changing its known stand, said for the first time that South Asia was no longer a "nuclear flash point".
Both sides have expressed their desire to keep working towards elaboration and implementation of nuclear CBMs, within the agreed framework.
Upgradation of the existing hotlines between the DGMOs and establishment of a dedicated and secure hotline between foreign secretaries of the two countries are issues that are expected to come up for follow-up action during the meeting.
These measures are intended to prevent misunderstanding and reduce risks relevant to nuclear issues.
The two sides at the last meeting had, however, failed to make any progress on the conventional weapons front.
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