PM to lead Pakistan in 13th SAARC Summit
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, and the current Chairman of SAARC, would lead the Pakistani delegation to participate in the 13th SAARC Summit at Dhaka from November 12-13.
The Summit is expected to review activities in the fields of economic cooperation, social development and culture.
“Emerging areas of cooperation including trade, energy, environment, health and tourism would also be taken up at the Summit,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told reporters.
She said the Summit would provide an opportunity to the Prime Minister to meet, collectively and bilaterally, leaders from SAARC member states and to re-affirm Pakistan’s commitment to further strengthening SAARC in its third decade.
The 13th summit was originally scheduled for January 9-11 but was postponed after the disastrous tsunami struck on December 26 which killed hundreds of thousands.
The summit was rescheduled for February 6-7 but was canceled at the last moment as India refused, citing security concerns in the region.
She said agreements relating to cooperation in Customs matters and avoidance of double taxation would be signed by the Foreign Ministers in the presence of the Heads of State and Government.
Final negotiations on the operationalisation of South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) and Agreement on Promotion and Protection of Investment would also be held by the SAARC leadership, she added.
Pakistan, she said, hopes that momentum generated by the Twelfth SAARC Summit in Islamabad would be sustained at Dhaka.
“At the Thirteenth Summit, Pakistan would like to build upon the basis laid at Islamabad with a view to strengthening the SAARC process”.
She said following the Agreements signed at the Twelfth Summit on Social Charter and Additional Protocol on Terrorism, Pakistan is the first country in SAARC to launch its “Plan of Action on Social Charter” and has ratified the Additional Protocol on Terrorism. She said the protocol pertains to the financing of terrorist organizations. She said Pakistan has already frozen a number of bank accounts of organizations suspected of links with terrorist organizations.