10 January 2005	Monday	28 Ziqa'ad 1425

DHAKA, Jan 9: Bangladesh expects the postponed summit of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation to take place in the second week of February as all members, except India, have agreed to attend it from Feb 7 to 9.

'All member-states but India have endorsed the proposed dates to hold the summit in Dhaka,' the foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, told reporters on Sunday after communication with Pakistan, the current chairman of the South Asian regional bloc.

He said Islamabad might announce the new dates within a day or two once it gets New Delhi's nod. Pakistan will announce the fresh dates. In the wake of the Asian tsunami, Bangladesh, the host country, postponed the summit, which was originally scheduled for Jan 9-11, giving priority to the convenience of the tsunami victims -- Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives.

Bangladesh earlier proposed the second week of February, preferably 7 to 9, to hold the summit. As per the communication, Morshed said Pakistan had conversations with Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan. All the countries agreed with the new dates for the summit.

A Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman told a local television channel in Islamabad on Saturday that the foreign secretary, Riaz Khokhar, had contacted the foreign secretaries of the other member-countries and discussed the new dates.