Foreign Secys. fail to finalise dates for summit

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, AUG. 10. The Foreign Secretaries of SAARC ended their two-day special meeting today without any agreement on the dates for the Kathmandu summit. At a press conference, the SAARC secretary-general, Mr. Nihal Rodrigo, said the standing committee's inability to finalise the dates was not due to any political objections by any of the member countries, but due to logistical problems. Host Nepal proposed December 28, 29 and 30, but fresh dates would have to be set after consultations at the ``highest level'' in all the seven member countries.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary and chairman of the standing committee, Mr. G. Wijayasiri, asserted that the summit would be held in December and said it would be preceded by a meeting of the SAARC Foreign Ministers and Foreign Secretaries. ``There was full agreement on early resumption of the summit process. Consultations on the finalisation of dates are proceeding.'' The standing committee accepted India's offer to host a meeting of the Commerce Ministers and Secretaries on August 23 and 24 to finalise a common SAARC position for the World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting to be held in Qatar in November.

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Section  : International
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