September 4, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 6, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri will embark on the first leg of his tour to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) capitals on Tuesday to deliver invitations for the 12th summit to be held in Pakistan next year, reliable sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

Pakistan is to host the 12th seven-nation Saarc heads and governments summit from Jan 4 to 6.

“On the first leg of his week-long tour the foreign minister will visit Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka to deliver invitations issued by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali to the three respective heads of state,” the sources said.

In Dhaka, the foreign minister will meet Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, in Katmandu he will call on Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa and in Colombo he will be received by President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Mr Kasuri’s tour is planned from Sept 9 to 15 and he will be accompanied by South Asia Director-General Jalil Abbas Jilani.

The foreign minister would embark on the second leg of his tour to the remaining Saarc member countries in October, the sources said. He will then deliver invitations to leaders in India, Bhutan and Maldives.

While officials here maintained that a final decision on the venue has not yet been taken, they hinted that it would most likely be held in Islamabad.

The other option is Lahore but because of logistics and security issues the government may settle for Islamabad, they said.

The 12th summit was initially slated for January 11 to 13 this year in Islamabad but Pakistan had to postpone it after India failed to confirm its participation in the meeting.