France, Pakistan seek nuclear cooperation deal

France, Pakistan seek nuclear cooperation deal

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – France and Pakistan are negotiating a partnership including nuclear cooperation and French President Nicolas Sarkozy could travel to Pakistan in the autumn to sign a deal, a source close to Sarkozy said on Monday.

The source said talks were ongoing on a wide variety of issues including nuclear security, an extremely sensitive question since a Pakistani scientist was at the centre of the world’s biggest nuclear proliferation scandal in 2004…………….Sarkozy met Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Paris on May 15 and was reported by the Pakistani foreign minister as saying that France wanted Islamabad to obtain a wide-ranging deal to buy nuclear equipment like the one granted to India……………..Pakistan, which has also not signed the NPT, has dismissed concerns about the safety of its nuclear arsenal and its proliferation history.

Scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, revered by many Pakistanis as the father of the country’s nuclear bomb, confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya in 2004.

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-39876720090525?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

May 28, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Pakistan, politics | antinuclear, AREVA, nuclear, nuclear weapons, radioactive