ISLAMABAD, Dec 28: The Programming Committee of the seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) will meet here on Monday for its 24th session to review a set of agenda items to be considered for the 12th Summit next month.

The two-day meeting of the committee will be the first step in the preparatory process towards the Summit Conference, the Foreign Office Spokesman Masood Khan said on Sunday.

The meeting will be presided over by Pakistan Foreign Ministry’s director-general, South Asia, Jalil Abbas Jilani, also the coordinator of the 12th Saarc Summit. Senior officials from all seven Saarc countries will be participating in the meeting of the Programming Committee.

The Saarc secretary-general Qamar Ahmed Rahim will also attend the meeting that will be held at a local hotel here.

The Committee, which assists the standing committee comprising foreign secretaries, will approve the Saarc secretariat budget, finalize the calendar of activities and take up any other matter assigned to it by the Standing Committee, officials here said.