Islamabad: Pakistan has agreed for the first time to allow international chemical weapons inspectors check an industrial site, a government official said on April 22.

Inspectors from the independent Hague-based Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will arrive on April 29 to inspect a fertiliser plant in the Southern port city Karachi, the official said.

"They are more than welcome to inspect the Fauji Jordan fertiliser site," he said, asking not to be named.

"Pakistan does not have any chemical weapons."

The inspection will be conducted under the global Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) treaty, signed in 1993, which binds signatory states to work towards the elimination of weapons of mass destruction.

Members are obliged to open their sites for inspection and ensure that no chemical weapons are being produced.

The official did not explain why the OPCW inspectors were checking Pakistan, or why the Fauji Jordan plant had been chosen for inspection.

The team of inspectors will include a Pakistani.

The OPCW, which co-operates with the United Nations, is made up of 151 countries, which have signed the CWC.

Agencies