Pakistan has applied to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), claiming it has the ability to adhere to the nuclear proliferation-reducing body's standards, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Joining the nuclear material export-controlling organization reflects Pakistan's support for limiting nuclear proliferation, the ministry added, stressing that the country has taken legal, regulatory and administrative measures to bring its nuclear safety in line with international standards.

"Pakistan has the expertise, manpower, infrastructure, as well as the ability to supply NSG controlled items, goods and services for a full range of nuclear applications for peaceful uses," the ministry said in a statement, as quoted by The Express Tribune newspaper.

On Tuesday, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry reportedly met with US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs Rose Gottemoeller. The minister said that Pakistan has the credentials to join the NSG, while the US delegation recognized Pakistan's efforts to bring its nuclear material trade controls in line with the organization's demands.

The NSG comprises 48 nuclear material-producing countries. The body is one of the chief tools for controlling the exports and proliferation of materials that could potentially be used in making weapons of mass destruction, as well as tackling the black market trade of nuclear technologies.

Pakistan is one of the world's nine states that possess nuclear weapons. It conducted its first nuclear test in 1998, and has a stockpile of some 120 warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Source: Sputnik News