The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Islamabad in January next year will discuss the possibility of extending associate membership or observer status to the United States and China, senior Indian officials said.

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Though the Islamabad summit is being held under the shadow of Indo-Pak tensions, senior officials insist that it will consider several other critical issues. Till now SAARC has been a hostage to the enemity between the recalcitrant South Asian nuclear neighbours.

A senior official said the discussions on establishing some sort of relations with the US and China will be one of the important steps to be considered at Islamabad when the heads of the six South Asian countries meet in January. "We had received the formal request from China and United States long time back," he said.

"The SAARC does not have a formal provision like the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) to establish formal dialogues with countries outside the association," he said. But the SAARC "received formal requests from the US and China long back and we had a round of discussion on establishing relations with the two countries during the Kathmandu summit," he added.

But there are hiccups, including the fact that SAARC charter gives each member of the association the veto power. Though officials point out that the SAARC charter "is the highest form of democracy," it could also slow down progress on critical issues.

The SAARC leadership is also examining the ASEAN forum's arrangements with countries outside the region. In 1992, ASEAN established an ASEAN Regional Forum that aims to promote confidence building, preventive diplomacy and conflict resolution in the region. Among the ARF participants are India, Japan, the United States and Russia.

ASEAN also has dialogue partners such as India, Australia, US and the United Nations Development Programme. The dialogue between ASEAN and its dialogue partners covers a wide range of issues, including security and trade promotions.

It is not as if SAARC does not have any contact with outside countries. It has signed memorandums of understanding with both Japan and Canada for funding some of SAARC programmes.

Japan is providing major assistance, including technology, for SAARC TB (Tuberculosis) centre in Kathmandu.

SAARC also has annual consultations with the United Nations.