Sarkozy visiting Pakistan in autumn to ink nuclear deal ?

Abu Dhabi, May 26 (ANI): French President Nicolas Sarkozy could visit Pakistan later this year to ink a nuclear cooperation deal between the two countries.

According to sources, France and Pakistan are negotiating a nuclear partnership and talks in this regard, are at an advanced stage.

"We're in the process of negotiating. We've given ourselves two or three more months," a source privy to Sarkozy said.

Sarkozy is currently in Abu Dhabi to inaugurate a French military base there, The Dawn reports.

Earlier, Pakistan had claimed that France has offered it a civilian nuclear technology similar to what India has obtained from the United States.

"France has agreed to transfer civilian nuclear technology to Pakistan. They have agreed that Pakistan should be treated like India," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had said during President Asif Ali Zardari's recent visit to Paris.

French officials had then said that Sarkozy confirmed his willingness to 'cooperate with Pakistan in the area of nuclear safety', but they declined to comment on whether Paris had offered any civil nuclear deal to Islamabad.

An official in Sarkozy's office had said France is concerned about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and wants Islamabad to fortify security around its nuclear establishments, but he refused to comment on the idea of an India-style nuclear deal. (ANI)