"They wanted more information than we are prepared to give," Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri told Japan's Kyodo news service in an interview published Thursday.

The South Asian neighbours were also unable to reach agreement on whether cruise missiles should be included when they met late last year in a bid to finally hammer out the long-awaited deal, Kasuri said.

Pakistan and India, who both conducted atomic tests in May 1998, inform each other under an unwritten 1999 agreement before conducting any of their regular missile tests.

The agreement is designed to prevent misunderstandings leading to an accidental nuclear exchange.

The two countries are currently engaged in a 14-month-old peace process under which sporting, cultural and transport links have been revived.

Both had blamed the "complex" issues involved for failing to reach a formal deal on notification of missile tests but until now have not explained the details.

Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Two were over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, which is divided between the two and claimed in full by both.

On March 19 Pakistan tested a surface-to-surface missile capable of carrying conventional and nuclear warheads deep into India.

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