Pakistan hopes to host SAARC summit this year, says secretariat director

Pakistan expects to hold this year’s South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference in the country, a director at the organisation’s secretariat told Bernama.

Last year’s conference—where senior state officials of South Asian countries meet to discuss a range of issues—was postponed due to political tensions between Pakistan and India.

"Preparations are being made to organise the summit in November this year. Discussions are going on. Let's see," Bernama quoted Ali Haider Altaf, a director at the Kathmandu-based SAARC Secretariat as saying.

Last year’s summit was scheduled to take place in Islamabad in November but was postponed after India and three other countries pulled out of the key South Asian summit. The other countries included Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Bhutan.

The Foreign Office (FO) of Pakistan in response had said India has a track record of impeding the SAARC process.