India and Pakistan will sign an agreement on reducing the risk from accidents relating to nuclear weapons next week, said a senior Indian official here Thursday.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was quoted by Indo- Asian News Service as saying that the issue had been under discussion with Pakistan "for quite some time and now the two countries are ready to sign it."

The cabinet committee on security chaired by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared the agreement at a meeting held Thursday.

The pact will be signed when Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri comes to India for the India-Pakistan Joint Commission Meeting in February.

The exact date for Kasuri's visit was "being worked out through diplomatic channels," Mukherjee said.

India and Pakistan reached an understanding on signing the agreement in November 2006 at the foreign secretary-level talk.

Source: Xinhua