It comes after the Pakistani cabinet approved Wednesday a draft bill to tighten controls on the export of nuclear weapons technology.

The draft bill, due to go before parliament, provides for imprisonment of up to 14 years, a maximum fine of five million rupees (285,000 dollars) or both for offenders.

"Juster appreciated Pakistan's efforts to streamline and strengthen its export control regime and welcomed approval of the new export control legislation by the cabinet," it said.

Senior foreign ministry official Tariq Osman Hyder, who led the Pakistani team, underlined the need to explore cooperation between the two countries in civilian space technology, a foreign ministry statement said.

"Both sides agreed that the issues of industry and security were inter-related and required concerted and sustained bilateral efforts to create a salutary and enabling environment for the growth of international trade," the statement said.

The move followed a UN Security Council resolution last week aimed at keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists and black market traders.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan was hit by a proliferation scandal recently when the architect of its atomic weapons programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, publicly confessed to leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Khan was given a conditional pardon by President Pervez Musharraf but he remains under virtual house arrest in the capital Islamabad.

The government has said a probe into the leaks has not been completed.

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