There has been "steady progress" in the ongoing dialogue between US deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott and Pakistan foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed over the security and non-proliferation issues, media reports here quoted state department spokesman James Rubin as saying.

To Shamshad Ahmed's emphasis on lifting of economic sanctions on Pakistan, the US ruled out any possibility of offering a separate economic package to Islamabad saying ``... there are important issues where we need to nail down commitments to deal with important non-proliferation concerns and important issues that still need to be resolved.''

The US officials were not yet satisfied with theprogress on the non-proliferation issue, the reports added.

The English daily, `Dawn', in a despatch from Washington said the state department officials indicated that attempts are being made to wrap up agreements before the scheduled meeting between President Bill Clinton and Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif on December two in Washington. It is expected that the current round of talks, fifth since the may nuclear tests, will be decisive culminating with the Clinton-Sharif meeting.

Some other state department officials were quoted by the media here as saying that Pakistan has confirmed its commitment to the non-proliferation issue and there is possibility of making progress in that direction.

``On the nuclear issue, we have a confirmation that Pakistan is committed to this process with us and we will be working towards making more progress on our non-proliferation agenda in the future,'' an unnamed state department official was quoted as saying.

The US officials are also urging Pakistan to reachan agreement with the IMF before Sharif's America visit. The US would support Pakistan within the IMF/World Bank framework after Islamabad carries out the reforms suggested by the IMF, they said.

The IMF had earlier suspended its negotiations with Pakistani officials for the revival of a $ 1.56 billion soft loan package after Islamabad had refused to accept the tough conditionalities and picked up fight with some of the World Bank funded private power projects in the country.