Fourteenth SAARC Summit process begins tomorrow

New Delhi, Mar 29 (UNI) The process for the April 3-4 14th SAARC Summit will be set in motion tomorrow with the 29th Session of the Programming Committee meeting to discuss the programme of the two-day Summit.

Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met SAARC editors here this morning and held discussions on the two-day mega event.

The Summit, being held in India for the third time, will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on April 3.

It will focus on the theme of connectivity--economic, political, social and infrastructural.

The Summit which will have EU, US, China, Japan and Republic of Korea as Observers for the first time, will also discuss the issue of terrorism at Sri Lanka's request.

Following Monday's LTTE air attack on a Sri Lankan air base, Colombo had requested that the issue of terrorism also be discussed.

The last time India held a SAARC Summit was in 1995 in Delhi. Before that, India had held the 1986 Summit in Bangalore.

''We see this as a Summit which enables the subcontinent to reconnect to itself and to the rest of the world. I think the most evident symbol of this is that Afghanistan will be joining SAARC formally as a member at the Fourteenth Summit, which is a cause of some happiness for us. Equally, it will be the first Summit when there will be Observers present at the Summit,'' Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said.

Foreign Secretaries of the member countries will meet on March 31 for the 33rd Session of the Standing Committee.

On April 2, Foreign Ministers of the SAARC countries will meet as a prelude to the two-day Summit.

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