Based on these reports Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan and the summit preparatory cell will brief Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, probably on December 5, on the progress of Dhaka's preparations for hosting the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation summit next month.

The 10 ministries in charge of the sub-committees are to review the overall progress of preparations for the summit in a meeting with Morshed before the briefing session at Prime Minister's Office, sources said.

The three ministries that have come up with progress reports are those of tourism, information and health.

The sub-committees to receive the bulk of the budget, those assigned to look after transportation, accommodation and security of the summit participants, are taking more time to submit progress reports due to their more cumbersome tasks, sources said. They however are expected to do that before or during the review session with the foreign minister, they added.

The budget for the summit has been fixed at Tk 15 crore by the summit preparatory cell headed by Reaz Rahman, adviser to the foreign ministry.

Earlier, a highly placed government official told The Daily Star they expect all preparations for the summit to be completed by the end of December, with agenda-setting committee meetings starting from January 3.

The briefing of the prime minister by Morshed would follow his numerous meetings with the envoys of Saarc countries in Dhaka and the Saarc secretary-general in the last few days, where, sources said, all of them expressed satisfaction at the progress of preparations.

The 10 sub-committees working under the preparatory cell are on summit preparation, protocol and management, accommodation, security, transport, culture, city beautification, information and public relations, post and telecommunications, and health.

Bangladesh will become the first member to host and chair three Saarc summits. The summit cycle kicked off in Dhaka in 1985 and Bangladesh hosted the summit again in 1993.

The summit proper will be held from January 9 to 11, but the programming committee will meet on January 3 to 4, Saarc Standing Committee comprising foreign secretaries of the region on January 5 to 6, and Saarc Council of Ministers comprising foreign ministers on January 7 to 8.

Erratum

In a report titled 'Saarc economic union may take shape at Dhaka summit' run by The Daily Star on November 27 Saturday, it was inadvertently mentioned that "Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf are likely to meet on the sidelines of the Saarc summit". It should read, "Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz."