New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS) Senior officials of 49 countries Monday held talks here to discuss nuclear safety, a strategy to counter the prospects of nuclear terrorism, and to firm up the agenda for the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, South Korea, in March.

The meeting took place against the backdrop of the danger of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists and concerns in some quarters about the safety of nuclear weapons in the region.

The ’sherpas’ or personal representatives of heads of government of 49 countries and officials from four multilateral organisations began their two-day talks here to evolve concrete steps to thwart nuclear terrorism.

“We had productive discussions during the last Sherpa meeting in Helsinki. I am confident that in New Delhi further progress will be made on the draft communique of the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul with a view to its early finalization,” Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said at the preparatory meeting.

A day before the summit, Indian Army chief General V.K. Singh rejected the threat of a nuclear war in the region and stressed that India’s nuclear weapons were for only strategic deterrence.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to travel to Seoul to participate in the second Nuclear Security Summit March 26-27.

The US hosted the first nuclear security summit in Washington in April 2010.

The discussions focused on issues relating to nuclear terrorism, nuclear security and the management of radiologial materials.

The officials are expected to come out with a blueprint for nuclear security and safety amid persistent concerns about clandestine proliferation and the danger of weapons falling into the hands of terrorists and radicals.

The Seoul summit will be watched closely for measures it comes out with to restore the confidence of the international community in nuclear energy that was badly shaken after the Fukushima radiation disaster in Japan in March last year.