The new line of credit follows the $5.4 billion concessional credit announced in 2008 at the time of the first such summit held in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Singh left on Friday morning for New Delhi from Paro International airport, about 60 km from Thimphu, the Bhutanese capital.
Less than a year after their controversial engagement in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani will meet in Thimphu on with little expectations of any breakthrough. The two leaders shook hands twice during the opening day of the SAARC Summit today and Singh is expected to convey India's strong demand for action by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to Gilani.
Leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries vowed to collectively combat the scourge of terrorism, extremism and insurgency plaguing the region with Pakistan and Bangladesh rejecting claims of those who justified violence in the name of Islam.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the announcement at the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit that began in Thimphu with an apt theme -- Towards a Green and Happy South Asia.
India supports "a fresh SAARC position on Climate Change for COP (Conference of Parties) 16 in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Chnage principles and the Bali Action Plan," External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said, addressing the SAARC Council of Ministers.
Addressing the SAARC Standing Committee meeting in Thimphu, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said that SAARC has evolved into a service provider for the economic and development needs of the people of the region.
Several round of talks are expected to be held this year before the finale at Cancun in Mexico in December.
Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan, who is in-charge of Department of Atomic Energy, said the country lacks a law under which compensation could be awarded in the case of a nuclear accident.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ruled out any rollback in hike in petrol and diesel prices, saying the economy has the capacity to absorb the increase without triggering an inflationary spiral. Singh also made it clear that following populist fiscal policies for long harmed the economy, two days after key United Pogressive Alliance allies Trinamool Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam made a strong pitch for the rollback.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday that he had asked Saudi Arabia to use its "good offices" to persuade Pakistan to desist from the path of terror.
India is willing to walk the "extra mile" to open a new chapter in relations with Pakistan but it must act decisively against terrorism, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted on Monday."We seek cooperative relations with Pakistan. Our objective is a permanent peace because we recognise that we are bound together by a shared future. If there is cooperation between India and Pakistan, vast opportunities will open up for trade and development that will create prosperity.
Giving a new dynamism to bilateral ties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said India sees Saudi Arabia as a strategic partner for promoting peace, stability and economic development and that the conditions were ripe for the two countries to enter into a comprehensive energy partnership.
No headway was made in climate talks with the US and China refusing to budge from their positions on emission cuts as negotiators struggled on Friday to strike a face-saving deal to tackle global warming.
Prior to the meeting of over 110 world leaders at the climate change conference, Singh is scheduled to meet with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao in a bid to consolidate position of the developing countries for the plenary.
With India's patience running out, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday asked his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi about the progress into the Mumbai terror attacks case and sought a quicker trial."I made enquiries about the progress they (Pakistan) have made about bringing to justice those who were responsible for the attack in Mumbai," said Krishna about his meeting with Qureshi in Kabul.
The Conference of Parties must come up with a successor to the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
In an apparent climbdown, India today dropped its insistence on refusing to hold talks with Pakistan till those behind the Mumbai terror attacks were punished but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clarified that the "composite dialogue" will not be resumed.
Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting with his Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, India on Wednesday sounded positive on continuing talks but said there were some "difficult" issues still remaining and Islamabad needed to take credible action to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice.
Addressing the plenary session, Dr Singh also warned that there could be a period of prolonged stagflation if the aftermath of the global financial crisis was not carefully managed.
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