Thursday, March 10 2005 15:08 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan, as the current Chairman of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) has proposed that the postponed 13th summit of the regional grouping could be held in Dhaka in the middle of next and was awaiting response from India and other member countries, Pakistani officials have said.

"Pakistan has proposed new set of dates, falling in mid-April, in its capacity as the current Chairman of SAARC after consulting the host Government in Dhaka," the officials said.

Pakistan was expected to get the response in a week and would announce the schedule as soon as it received confirmation from all member countries, they were quoted as saying.

The 13th SAARC summit has been postponed twice, first due to the tsunami disaster that hit the region and then due to Indian decision to pull out of the summit last month following the developments in Nepal and Bangladesh.

Pakistan officials say that they have received positive response from India to attend the summit in April during the last month's visit of External Affairs Minister, K Nawtar Singh in Islamabad.