Friday, November 11 2005 11:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dhaka: The Bangladeshi capital Dhaka was today (Nov 11, 2005) set to welcome leaders of six South Asian nation at the 13th SAARC summit as this bustling city of 13 million wore a colourful look with flags, posters and lights.

Bhutanese Prime Minister Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup will be the first dignitary to arrive today, followed by Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz at 4:30 PM, Nepalese King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev at 5:30 pm, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at 6:30 pm, Maldives President Maumoom Abdul Gayoom at 10:35 PM and Sri Lankan President Chandrika at 11:30 pm.

Kumaratunga, busy with election at home, will be the last to arrive but likely to be the first to leave Dhaka on Sunday. She is scheduled to address a large election rally in Colombo in the afternoon of November 13, diplomatic sources said.

The sources said Chandrika would complete all formalities and sign documents on the concluding day before she departs for home before the ceremonial closing session of the two-day South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit.

Dhaka wore a festive look for the summit with hundreds of lights across the capital. Life size portraits of the seven SAARC leaders were put up in the streets along with respective national flags.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will take the helm of the grouping from Pakistan's Aziz at the summit as SAARC graduates into the third decade.

SAARC, which groups India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives, was found in 1985.

Meanwhile, the seven SAARC foreign ministers today started deliberations to fine tune the Dhaka Declaration to be issued at the end of the meet by thrashing out some issues which were passed onto them by Standing Committee comprising of foreign secretaries of the member states.