Colombo, Sept 14: Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri arrived here today to officially invite Sri Lanka to attend the delayed South Asian summit, an official said. Kasuri went in for talks with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe shortly after his arrival and was expected to call on President Chandrika Kumaratunga tomorrow to invite her to the January summit, the official said.
Kasuri is carrying a formal invitation to Kumaratunga to attend the January 4-6 summit of the seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc). The 12th summit of Saarc, which was formed in 1985, should have been held in January this year but was delayed due to India-Pakistan tensions.
Under the Saarc charter, summits cannot be held without the participation of all members at the level of head of state or head of government and they are also precluded from taking up contentious bilateral political issues. Saarc groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Bureau Report