India has said it is ready to accept any suitable date for the twice-postponed South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Dhaka if it [the date] is acceptable to other members of the seven-nation grouping.
External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh conveyed this to his Bangladeshi counterpart Morshed Khan when the two met on Saturday night on the sidelines of the Asian-African Summit.
The issue of rescheduling the SAARC Summit was raised by Morshed, External Affairs Ministry spokesman said here today.
Pakistan is the current Chairman of SAARC. The chairmanship will go to Bangladesh once it hosts the Summit.
Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives are the other members of the group.
The indication of India's willingness to attend the Summit assumes significance as it comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting with Nepal King Gyanendra in Jakarta on Saturday.
India had earlier refused to attend the Summit in February citing 'disturbing developments in the region', a reference to the royal takeover in Nepal on February one.
This had led to postponement of the Summit, which was earlier postponed in January due to the tsunami disaster.
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