Tuesday, July 19 2005 17:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: India and Pakistan will hold the next round of expert-level talks on nuclear Confidence- Building Measures (CBMs) on August 5 and 6 and Home Secretary-level meeting in New Delhi on terrorism later next month, it was officially announced here today (July 19, 2005).

A meeting on conventional CBMs will be held on August 8. The Pakistani delegation will be led by Tariq Osman Hyder, additional secretary in the Foreign Office in Islamabad.

Announcing the schedule for meetings within the framework of the Composite Dialogue process, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said Home Secretary-level talks on terrorism and drug trafficking would be held here on August 29 and 30.

Commerce Secretaries of the two countries would also meet here on August 9 and 10 to discuss economic and commercial cooperation and co-chair the meeting of the Joint Study Group.

Secretary, Culture Ministry will fly to Islamabad for a two-day meeting with his Pakistani counterpart from July 26 to continue dialogue on promotion of friendly exchanges in various fields.

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 of talks in Islamabad in December with Pakistan, changing its known stand, said for the first time that South Asia was no longer a "nuclear flashpoint".

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 CBMs.