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G-8 Tokyo meet links N-NPT to lifting of sanctions

Officials from the Group of Eight industrialised nations, who met in Tokyo on Thursday, said that India and Pakistan must demonstrate more willingness to sign a nuclear non-proliferation treaty before economic sanctions can be lifted.

The G-8 taskforce today praised recent moves by the south Asian nations, such as expressions of willingness to sign a nuclear test ban treaty. But it concluded that India and Pakistan must take more steps before it can support ending the sanctions, imposed on the two after they tested nuclear weapons.

"We must ask India and Pakistan to comply with all demands of the UN Security Council,'' taskforce chairman Nnobuyasu Abe said.

That includes "constructive participation'' as non-nuclear nations in talks to sign a global treaty aimed at limiting the spread of atomic weapons, Abe said.

This is the third meeting that the G-8 taskforce has held since the tests were conducted. It is not expected to reach any decisions about the sanctions or other issues regarding the south Asian nations.

Instead, the taskforce, which also includes officials from five other countries, is expected to review information that it has gathered about how India and Pakistan are complying with requirements that the G-8 set in order to lift the sanctions.

In addition to the G-8 members -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States -- the taskforce includes top officials from Australia, South Korea, Ukraine, Argentina and Brazil. The group's two previous discussions about India and Pakistan were held in London in July and October 1998.

UNI

EARLIER REPORTS:

The Pokhran nuclear tests, the aftermath and the sanctions

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