Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will inaugurate the meet at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel in the afternoon. Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan will chair the council session to be attended by the foreign ministers of the seven member states of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).

Afghanistan, the newest member of the grouping, will be there as the special guest to have an idea of the Saarc process. Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta is attending the event at the special invitation of the Bangladesh government, the current chair of Saarc.

Afghanistan will formally join the Saarc family as a full member at its 14th summit likely to be held in 2007 in India.

Official sources said the Council of Ministers at its meeting will also consider the formal applications of South Korea, USA and EU for becoming the Saarc observers.

Besides, the council will review implementation of various proposals made at the 13th summit in Dhaka. The proposals include establishment of South Asian University and sponsoring South Asian Car Rally.

It will also review the reports of Saarc ministerial meetings so far held since the last summit in Dhaka.

The Standing Committee comprising the foreign secretaries in a meeting yesterday approved a number of issues, including the Saarc budget for 2007, and these will be placed for final approval of the Council of Minister. The foreign secretaries reviewed the activities of different technical committees and working groups.

They also discussed providing guidelines for increasing activities in areas of cooperation among the member states in commerce, finance, communications and energy sectors.