New Delhi, February 18
In a major confidence-building measure, India and Pakistan will sign an agreement to reduce the risk from accidental use of nuclear weapons on Wednesday when the foreign ministers of the two countries meet here.

Agreements on preventing incidents at sea and speedy return of inadvertent border crossers are also expected to be inked after talks between External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.

During their second structured meeting in over a month, Mr Mukherjee and Mr Kasuri will review the entire gamut of bilateral relations and assess progress made on various issues.

Mr Kasuri will arrive here on Tuesday for the three-day visit to attend the meeting of the Indo-Pak Joint Commission.

The two sides will ink an agreement on reducing the risk from accidents relating to nuclear weapons after the talks, a major confidence-building measure after the ceasefire on Line of Control (LoC) since November, 2003.

An understanding on signing the pact was reached during the foreign secretary-level talks here on November 14 and it was endorsed at a meeting between the foreign ministers in Islamabad on January 13. However, the pact could not be inked due to the absence of a nod from the Cabinet.

Progress on resolving the Sir Creek dispute will also be assessed at the talks between Mr Mukherjee and Mr Kasuri. During their last meeting, the two foreign ministers decided to direct officials of their countries to expedite work for resolving this issue.

A joint survey of the disputed Sir Creek region off the Gujarat coast has already begun. A horizontal survey was carried out earlier. At the upcoming meeting, the two sides are also expected to discuss ways to enhance trade and economic cooperation.

The liberalisation of the visa regime is also expected to be decided upon during the talks. — PTI