Nuclear-armed Pakistan and India are due to meet in Islamabad next week to discuss a possible agreement on giving advance notice to each other before conducting missile tests, Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday. The expert-level talks on confidence-building measures (CBMs) will be held on December 14-15 in Islamabad, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Masood Khan told AFP.
Pakistani and Indian officials would also discuss setting up a hotline between top Foreign Ministry civil servants to avoid the possibility of nuclear conflict because of any mishap or misunderstanding, Masood said.
They already have a hotline between senior military commanders, who have conversations scheduled once a week.
Though an informal agreement about prior notification of missile tests exists between the two South Asian neighbours, the meeting is expected to finalise the draft of a formal agreement, the spokesman said.
Masood said the meeting would help in improving communications between both the sides.
The talks are aimed at establishing "strategic stability" in the region that constitutes nuclear and missile restraint, conventional balance and conflict resolution, he said.
"We covered some ground in June this year in New Delhi and we want to build on this momentum and elaborate some concrete CBMs," he said.
The first round of talks on nuclear issues was held in the Indian capital New Delhi in June where both reiterated a 1999 agreement that neither country would conduct another nuclear test "unless, in exercise of national sovereignty, it decides that extraordinary events have jeopardised its supreme interests".