Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri called on Thursday for co-operation between nuclear states to prevent criminal groups getting their hands on nuclear weapons.
"The greatest danger that (US) President (George W.) Bush rightfully pointed out is the threat of non-state actors," Kasuri told a news conference on the second and final day of a visit to Poland, the first ever by Pakistan's foreign minister.
"You deal with non-state actors by interacting with states", he said, adding "co-operative engagement, constructive engagement with nuclear states" was needed.
He was referring to a call from the US President on Wednesday for global support for tighter curbs on nuclear know-how, taking aim at North Korea, Iran, and black-market sales by Pakistan's former top atomic expert Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.
Kasuri reiterated that Pakistan was not involved in nuclear proliferation, saying Khan would have acted in a personal capacity and not on behalf of his country.
"If there has been co-operation it was on a personal level, not the state of Pakistan," he said, ruling out any collaboration with the North Korean authorities on missile technology.
"We have a more advanced programme than Korea has. If there has been co-operation it was on a personal level, not the state of Pakistan," he said.
He also said international investigations had shown that Libya and Iran had not become nuclear powers.
"Despite proliferation, Libya and Iran were unable to become nuclear powers," he said.
"It is very unlikely that if states cannot get nuclear weapons, how can groups have them?"
Questioned during the news conference on prospects for relations with India following a peace initiative, he called for "flexibility."
"There will be no solution unless there is flexibility on both sides," he said.
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