Sunday, November 13 2005 16:35 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Dhaka: The next SAARC Summit would be held in India, Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia announced here today (Nov 13, 2005).

At the concluding session of the two-day Summit meeting, she said that India has offered to host the next Summit and the seven-member grouping has welcomed it.

"We look forward to the next Summit in India", she said after the SAARC summit adopted a joint declaration.

Zia also announced that the Summit has decided to set up a SAARC Surveillance and Rapid Response System for dealing with health concerns like bird flu that has affected several countries in East Asia. The Centre will deal with regional problems pertaining health and pandemics like bird flu.

The Summit also adopted the recommendations of the SAARC Ministerial on environment and health and these meetings played a vital role in advancing regional cooperation.