Saarc Summit
Date to be set with consent of 3 tsunami-hit member states
Staff Correspondent
The 'convenience' of the three tsunami-affected member countries will get priority in fixing a fresh date for the postponed 13th Saarc summit, which is now likely to come after a summit of world leaders for post-tsunami rehabilitation on January 6 in Indonesia."We feel that considering their (the affected countries') psychological and physical conditions after the tsunami, their convenience will receive priority in fixing a new date for the summit," Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan told reporters in his office yesterday. Morshed explained that leaders of Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives, the three affected states, will have a clearer picture of where they stand after the Jakarta world leaders' summit on January 6 and a decision on the Saarc meet is likely after that date. The summit of the world leaders would assess the extent of losses and mobilise international aid to overcome the crisis. The 13th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit, originally scheduled between January 9 and 11, was postponed in the wake of the December 26 earthquake-propelled Tsunami that devastated Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives in South Asia and Indonesia and Thailand in southeast Asia. Dhaka still wants the summit to be held in the middle of the next month and Morshed said that Islamabad, the current chair of the regional grouping, has not disagreed on the timing. He also stressed that Dhaka is ready to host the summit "from now onwards to anytime," and authorities here would only require seven to 10 days to get the infrastructure for the summit back to top gear. On how soon he would like the dates to come, the minister added, "If we do get the date as soon as possible, it will also be to our convenience." He said that he had talks with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri yesterday by telephone and that Kasuri had told him that Islamabad is discussing the matter with all member states. He said although Nepal, Bhutan, and Pakistan had said they were ready to participate in the summit, no dates would be fixed without the consent of all member states. Asked if he had received any request to cut the summit days from three to two or one, Morshed said he had not received such request. He added that during a conversation with Natwar Singh, his Indian counterpart, Singh had told him that they did not want the summit to be truncated so the bilateral meetings could be held.
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