Islamabad: Pakistan said on Thursday that it expected the US to give Islamabad the same kind of civilian nuclear cooperation as it had just extended to India.
In a pact agreed on Thursday, the highlight of US President George W. Bush's trip to India, Washington committed itself to seek approval from the US Congress and the Nuclear Suppliers Group to lift curbs on sharing nuclear technology with India.
She was referring to a possibility of signing of a deal between India and France for cooperation in civilian nuclear programme during French President Jaque Chirac's recent visit to New Delhi.
"We hope that we will also get the same kind of cooperation," Pakistan foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said in Islamabad.
Pakistan needs to generate 8,800 megawatts of electricity through nuclear power in the next 15 to 20 years for its growing economy, she said.
Bush is due to visit Pakistan at the weekend as part of his Asian tour.
Last month Bush urged Pakistan to be patient with US nuclear cooperation with India but did not commit to, or rule out, a similar arrangement with Islamabad in the future.
The US regards Pakistan a frontline ally in its global war on terror and awarded it the status of a major non-NATO ally.
However Pakistan has been at the centre of international concerns over nuclear proliferation since its disgraced atomic scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan admitted in 2004 to leaking atomic secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
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