DHAKA, 15 May 2005 — India has given its assent to attend the 13th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit to be held here in Bangladesh in November, sources said.
Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh telephoned his Bangladeshi counterpart M. Morshed Khan late Friday and confirmed India’s participation at the Nov. 13-14 summit, the sources said yesterday.
Dhaka had proposed two sets of dates for the summit: Sept. 4-5 and Nov. 13-14.
Khan said with India’s confirmation of the dates, the road was now clear for holding the twice-postponed summit in Dhaka.
The seven SAARC countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and were to meet in January this year.
But the meeting was postponed to March 2005 because of the December tsunami disaster. However, the March summit was cancelled after India refused to attend.
Khan said Pakistan is ready to attend the summit on any dates. A formal announcement in this regard is expected soon. The minister said he had requested Natwar to inform Pakistan, the current chair of SAARC, about their decision. Pakistan is responsible for officially announcing the new schedule.
