New Delhi to host SAARC summit in 2007

The 14th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit will be held in New Delhi on April 3 and 4, 2007.

This was announced after a meeting of the SAARC foreign ministers in Dhaka on Wednesday. At the 14th summit, India will become the chairman of the regional grouping for a year, taking over from Bangladesh. The last SAARC Summit was held in Dhaka in November last year.

At the next Summit, Afghanistan will be formally included as the eighth member of the South Asian grouping. Afghanistan was the only country in South Asia, which was out of the SAARC, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Morshed Khan told reporters.

"Afghanistan's inclusion is a homecoming for the country," he said. Khan ruled out the inclusion of more countries as members of the grouping. Afghanistan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta attended the SAARC foreign ministers' talks, marking the first participation of the country in the high-level meeting of the grouping. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said SAARC will become a complete body with the inclusion of Afghanistan.