ISLAMABAD, June 11: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Saturday that a ‘breakthrough’ had been achieved on the sixth National Finance Commission award. “The issue will hopefully be resolved amicably,” he added. Replying to questions at a news conference at Prime Minister’s House, he said the four provinces had empowered the president to announce a formula for the award and it would be announced as soon as a consensus was reached.

The prime minister, who is chairman of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, announced that the 13th Saarc summit would be held in Dhaka on Nov 12 and 13.

Mr Aziz said all the members of the association had agreed on the dates.

The prime minister said in statement issued to the media that the summit would be preceded by meetings of the programming and standing committee and the council of ministers from Nov 9 to 11. It will build on the initiatives launched during the 12th summit in Islamabad in January 2004 and review progress on the South Asia Free Trade Agreement, the Saarc Social Charter and the Saarc Development Goals for Poverty Alleviation, Education, Health and Environment.

Asked about his expected meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh during the summit, he said only regional matters were discussed in Saarc but the meetings on the sidelines between the leaders had great significance in resolving their bilateral issues.

He said both the countries were treading on a path of normalization and close relations, which would also have positive effects on Saarc and help expand regional cooperation.

Responding to questions, the prime minister said there was no Al Qaeda training camp on Pakistan’s soil and the government would give its official reaction on the arrest of two Pakistanis in the United States after getting complete information about them through the collaboration of security agencies. He said Pakistan’s embassy in Washington had been directed to collect and provide all the relevant information. He dismissed as rubbish newspaper reports about existence of any Al Qaeda training camp in Pakistan.

He said he would pay his first official visit to the US next month on the invitation of President George Bush.

Asked about the All Parties Hurriyat Conference leaders visit, he said “it was a visit at the right time and in the right direction.”