The Hindu : Pak. may convene SAARC summit in December

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 14, 2003

International

International

Pak. may convene SAARC summit in December

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD May 13. Pakistan has proposed to convene the 12th South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit here in the first half of December.

While announcing the confidence building measures (CBMs) last Tuesday to pave way for dialogue with India, the Pakistan Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, had said his Government would soon approach the SAARC Secretariat for new dates.

The Islamabad was keen on early SAARC but the Foreign Office came to the conclusion that it would not be possible for heads of governments of South Asian countries to spare time for the summit before December.

The proposal on the new dates has been officially communicated to the SAARC secretariat in Kathmandu. The SAARC Secretary-General will communicate proposed dates to all member States for their consent.

Pakistan had originally planned to convene the summit from January 11 to 13 in Islamabad but it had to be postponed owing to `non-confirmation' by India and Bhutan.

The official position of India was that the dates for the summit were not agreed upon and so it would be wrong to insist that the summit has been postponed.

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