The 13th Saarc summit will now be held on February 6 and 7 and the heads of the government from the member countries are expected to arrive in Dhaka on February 5. Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan while briefing the newsmen on the latest development on Friday also said that the new schedule for the meeting has been set after consultation with all the seven member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc). Current SAARC Chair, Pakistan, formally announced the new dates on Friday. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan told a news agency that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had consulted all members and there was consensus on the new dates. The summit had originally been slated to take place between January 9 and 11, but Prime Minister Khaleda Zia deferred it in the wake of December 26 tsunami disaster that cost over 1,60,000 lives along the Indian Ocean coastlines with some of the Saarc member states being worst-hit.
