Nuclear rivals Pakistan and India exchanged lists of their nuclear facilities Saturday in line with a bilateral agreement to hand over such information annually on New Year's day, the foreign ministry said.

The two countries swapped the information under an agreement signed in 1999 on prohibition of attacks on each other's nuclear installations, foreign office spokesman Masood Khan said.

"Accordingly, the information on nuclear installations and facilities of both sides was exchanged today through diplomatic channels," the spokesman said in a statement.

India conducted nuclear tests in May 1998 and Pakistan in a tit-for-tat response detonated its own devices a few days later.

The rivals have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir which is divided between them and claimed in full by both.

After coming close to another war in 2002 they initiated a process of dialogue to resolve all their disputes including the Kashmir issue and have been engaged in a series of fence-mending moves since last year.

Last last month the two sides held inconclusive talks on ways to reduce the risk of nuclear war.

A draft agreement on advance warning of ballistic missile tests was one of the key topics of the talks between top foreign ministry officials.

Although the two countries normally inform each other when holding missile tests, no formal deal was signed.

The two sides will meet again at a later date, officials said.