Displaying India's keenness to firm up such a mechanism, the Cabinet last week gave its approval for authorising the Ministry of External Affairs to negotiate and finalise the text of the convention during the upcoming SAARC meet.
The regional legal treaty was discussed at the last Summit but it could not be finalised because of Pakistan's opposition to the extradition clause.
Leaders of the SAARC countries will also seek to enhance cooperation in various other fields like food security, energy security, connectivity, healthcare and education.
Deliberations on food and energy security will be significant in view of the increasing prices of eatables and fuels.
The upcoming summit is expected to see progress on the proposal for setting up a SAARC Food Bank aimed at meeting the requirements of the member countries in the time of need.
The summit will also discuss ways to push the implementation of connectivity, the theme of the last year's meet.
Image: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee greets his counterpart Abdulla Shahid from Maldives during a bilateral meeting, on the sidelines of 15th SAARC Summit in Colombo on Friday.
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