New Delhi
6 August 2005
Two days of discussions between India and Pakistan finally led to
a breakthrough when both sides on Saturday reached an understanding on the proposed
agreement on prenotification of flight testing of missile tests. Committing themselves to
an early operationalisation of a hotline between the two foreign secretaries, the two
nuclear neighbours also agreed to establish the hotline in September this year.
A joint press statement issued after conclusion of talks read: "The proposed agreement
commits both sides to pre-notify in a structured format flight testing of ballistic missiles,
with the objective of enhancing mutual confidence and engendering predictability and
transparency of intent. The experts have jointly recommended the agreed text of the
proposed agreement to the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan for formalisation."
"The two sides," the joint statement said, "emphasised the importance of early
operationalisation of the hotline link proposed to be established between the foreign
secretaries, through their respective foreign offices, to prevent misunderstandings and
reduce risks relevant to nuclear issues. In this connection, discussions on related
technical parameters were held. Details about implementation and testing schedules
were exchanged. It was agreed that the hotline link will be established in September
2005."
Both sides also agreed to report the progress made in the present round of the talks to
the respective foreign secretaries, who would decide on the date and venue of the next
expert level meeting on nuclear CBMs.
Nuclear CBMs is one of eight issues under the India-Pakistan composite dialogue
process. This was the third round of dialogue between the experts on the subject of
nuclear CBMs. The last two meetings were held in June 2004 in New Delhi and
December 2004 in Islamabad.
On August 8, the second round of India-Pakistan expert-level dialogue on conventional
CBMs would take place.
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