NEW DELHI: The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) leaders are set to sign three agreements — on avoidance of double taxation, customs facilitation and setting up an arbitration council on trade-related issues — during the November 12-13 summit in Dhaka.

It was also made known on Tuesday that Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed will attend the November 11 Council of Ministers meeting instead of Natwar Singh, who is now a Minister without a portfolio in the Manmohan Singh Government.

Though there will be no bilateral visit to Bangladesh, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to meet his Bangladeshi counterpart Khaleda Zia during his stay in Dhaka. King Gyanendra of Nepal has sought a meeting with Dr. Singh, but New Delhi is said to be mulling whether there will be a separate bilateral interaction.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who will also be in Dhaka, is scheduled to have a meeting with Dr. Singh on the sidelines. Such an encounter would be the first between India and Pakistan at the leadership level after the October 8 earthquake.

According to official sources, Mr. Ahamed is expected to have a number of meetings with his SAARC counterparts, ahead of the main summit. Mr. Ahamed leaves for Dhaka early on November 10.

Smooth implementaion

The sources also said they did not see any hitch in the implementation of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), which takes effect from January 1, 2006.

A Ministry statement said the next meeting of the Committee of Experts (COE) on SAFTA has been scheduled for November 28-29.

"The outstanding issues of SAFTA are expected to be resolved at this meeting, so that it enters into force on January 1, 2006. It is hoped that SAFTA would now consider expansion of its scope to include trade in services," the statement said.

"In view of the colossal and tragic loss of life and property because of the recent natural calamites of the earthquake and the tsunami, the summit would be underscoring the need for putting in place a Regional Response Mechanism regarding Disaster Preparedness, Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation. The forthcoming meeting of the SAARC Environment Ministers is expected to provide important directives in this regard."

Recognising the need to strengthen cooperation in fighting terrorism, the summit would be stressing on the need for ratification of the Additional Protocol to the SAARC Convention on Suppression of Terrorism, and call for an early conclusion of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

Leaders are also expected to discuss Afghanistan's admission as a member of SAARC. "India would be happy to support Afghanistan's bid.

The decision on this issue would have to be taken by a consensus of all member states," the statement added.

Pakistan also supports Kabul's entry.

India is to host the 14th SAARC summit in January 2007. An announcement about this will be made at the 13th summit in Dhaka, the statement added.

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