Pakistan, US to hold nuclear, strategic talks

Islamabad: Pakistan and the US will hold key talks on nuclear non-proliferation and strategic stability in Washington next week, media reported on Thursday.

Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, who is scheduled to arrive in Washington on May 30, will lead a delegation of senior officials from the foreign affairs ministry and the Strategic Plans Division, Dawn online reported.

Rose Eilene Gottemoeller, the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, will lead the US team.


"This will be a comprehensive dialogue. Both countries will be sharing their respective perspectives on nuclear non-proliferation and on other strategic issues," a senior Pakistani official said.


The talks are part of the strategic dialogue process, which includes economy and trade, energy, counter-terrorism and law-enforcement, defence and nuclear non-proliferation and education, science and technology.

The discovery of Al Qaeda`s supreme leader Osama bin Laden -- once the world`s most wanted militant -- in Abbottabad and a US air raid on the Salala border, both in 2011, had disrupted the dialogue process.

But relations have improved markedly in the past two years, the official added.