A senior Pakistani official is having talks in Washington later today expected to focus on United States sanctions against Pakistan after it carried out a series of nuclear test detonations earlier this year.

Correspondents say the Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, who is scheduled to head the American delegation, is expected to urge Pakistan to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty as soon as possible.

In September Pakistan told the United Nations it wanted to do so within a year.

Mr Talbott will also tell Shamshad Ahmad, who's the top civil servant in the foreign ministry, that Pakistan should stop producing material for nuclear weapons right away, instead of waiting for a treaty to come into force.

The talks will lay the groundwork for the visit to the White House by Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in December, when President Clinton is expected to discuss the aftermath of the nuclear tests India and Pakistan carried out in May.

Sanctions were imposed on both countries as a result.