Morshed told reporters at his office that Pakistan and Bangladesh have no problem with the summit being held in February. He added that India prefers it in the middle of the next month and other member states have no reservations either about the proposed timing.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia passed Dhaka's recommendations to Pakistan for holding the postponed summit between February 7 and 10 to give adequate time for Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives to recover from the devastating tidal waves.

The foreign minister said Khaleda yesterday discussed with her Pakistani counterpart Shawkat Aziz the process of fixing the date for the summit when he called her. Pakistan will formally propose the dates before the member states.

The summit was originally scheduled for January 9-11, but postponed due to the December 26 tidal waves that hit the coastlines of the three Saarc member states.

Morshed said Pakistan would make the decision upon detailed consultations with the other South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) member states, especially the three affected states.

"It (summit) should not remain in uncertainty," said Morshed and termed the second week of February 'an ideal time'. "We will not insist or force ourselves, but 7, 8 or 9 February will be fair enough."

Morshed added that the other member states had underscored the importance of holding the summit, as they have all recognised Saarc to be important.