She will become the chairperson of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation at its 13th summit set for November 12-13 in Dhaka.

She became the chairperson of the association for the first time at its 7th summit held in Dhaka on April 10-11 in 1993 during her first tenure as the prime minister of Bangladesh (1991-96). She is also the first woman head of the government in the country.

Dhaka is the birthplace of Saarc, which hosted its first summit held on December 7-8 in 1985 when its charter was formally adopted by the heads of states and governments of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The association provides a platform for the countries of South Asia to work together in a spirit of friendship, trust and understanding. It aims to promote welfare of the people of South Asia and to improve their quality of life through accelerated economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region.

Bangladesh will be hosting the summit of the international body of the most populous region of the world for the third time.

The host country is picked in alphabetical order, member countries organise the summit annually on rotation. At the first summit, the draft charter proposed a summit every two years.

The erstwhile Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi suggested that the summit be made an annual event and the rest of the summit leaders endorsed it. But only 12 summits have taken place in 20 years. Eight other summits could not be held due to various reasons.

Except for Bhutan, all members of Saarc organised two summits each and Bangladesh is the first country to host it for the third time.

Having made hectic preparations, Dhaka keenly waits for the twice-postponed event to take place.

The 13th Saarc summit was originally scheduled for January 9-11, which was cancelled after last December's tsunami disaster that battered three Asian nations India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Rescheduled for February 6-7, it was postponed again at the last minute after India pulled out citing security concerns in Bangladesh and the Royal coup in Nepal.

The founders of Saarc envisioned economic self-reliance for the member countries where poverty is a persistent problem. With a combined population of over 1.5 billion, the economically developing region faces multifarious problems. Every fifth man or woman on the earth is a South Asian.

The upcoming summit in Dhaka will review Saarc's two decades thoroughly and take initiatives for better quality of life for an average South Asian.

The Saarc Secretariat in a statement yesterday said, "Given the gravity of the terrorism issue, the leaders in the region are urgently required to make additional commitments in the forthcoming 13th Saarc summit regarding implementation of the recommendations regarding control of terrorism in the region as was stipulated in the 43-point declaration drawn up by the 12th Saarc summit."

Collective commitment of the leaders in the region will further strengthen regional solidarity against terrorism, the statement added.