ISLAMABAD, July 12: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said that no country, including India and Pakistan, is authorized to set preconditions for holding the Saarc meeting.

“Neither India nor Pakistan has the authority to set any preconditions for holding of the meeting”, the Minister told BBC Radio.

While welcoming India’s acceptance to participate in the scheduled Saarc summit in Islamabad, he said the Saarc region, had been lagging behind in terms of human development, adding that the incidence of poverty had risen in South Asia while other regional blocks in the world had progressed rapidly.

“We welcome it. It is in fact a welcoming development that India will participate in the summit”, the Minister said.

Stressing the need for dialogue between India and Pakistan, he said that it might not be held under the Saarc umbrella, adding that the summit would help reduce tension between the two countries.

Referring to boosting trade ties, he said that so far as trade was concerned, there had been significant progress in had been made in this regard under the Saarc umbrella, he added.—APP