Beijing: China has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pakistan on the construction of a 300-megawatt nuclear power plant at the Chashma nuclear power plant, official sources said.

The MoU was signed after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali concluded official talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 24 evening.

Pakistan atomic energy commission chairman Pervez Butt said the two sides would soon sign a formal agreement on the nuclear power plant, which is proposed to be set up within six years.

He said the total financial assistance to be provided by the Chinese government on the project is being negotiated.

China is the leading supplier of weapons and defence technology to Pakistan. Its second power plant was built in Chashma in the 1990s, with Chinese assistance.

Despite international concern over Sino-Pakistani nuclear co-operation, China insists that all of it nuclear co-operation, including that with Pakistan, is strictly for peaceful purposes.

Interestingly, China's official media has kept mum on the nuclear project and just mentioned that the two sides have signed four MoUs, including one on economic and technical co-operation.

Apart from the MoU on nuclear power plant, the two sides signed two other MoUs, under which Pakistan railways system would be modernised, for which the Chinese government has to extend a soft-term credit of about $ 500 million.

PTI