Pakistan and India began on Tuesday expert-level talks on nuclear confidence building measures here amid hopes of progress on a proposed agreement on advance notification of missile tests, officials said.

"I look forward to a result-oriented process which will be in the interests of both of our peoples and governments," Meera Shankar, Additional Secretary (International Organizations) at the Indian External Affairs Ministry, who heads the Indian delegation told reporters ahead of the talks.

The second round of talks is part of the on-going peace process between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. The first meeting was held in New Delhi in June this year.

"We had a result-oriented process in New Delhi and look forward to the continuation of result-oriented process with their cooperation in the interests of the governments and peoples of both the countries," Additional Secretary at the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tariq Osman Hyder said.

The meeting will be followed by the first round of expert-level talks on conventional issues.

"We are happy to be in Islamabad and the weather in Islamabad is better than New Delhi at the moment," Meera Shankar said. She agreed with the remarks of her Pakistani counterpart about the result-oriented talks.

In a weekly news briefing on Monday, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said that the nuclear talks were aimed at reducing the risk of accidental war and promoting strategic stability.

"The two sides will discuss proposals on nuclear confidence building measures, including the draft agreement on pre-notification of flight-testing of missiles," Masood Khan said.

The spokesman asserted that as nuclear-armed neighbors, Pakistan and India needed to have an effective and reliable channel of communication to ensure there was no accidental or unauthorized launch.

In this context, he referred to the general framework of talks, which includes strategic stability, crisis management, confidence building and risk reduction.

After testing nuclear bombs in 1998 by both India and Pakistan,the two countries often conduct tests of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, which can hit major cities in both the countries.

Missile race between Pakistan and India, which have fought three wars since their independence in 1947, is a matter of concern for the world community.

Source: Xinhua