The government of Bangladesh as the current chair of Saarc has invited Afghanistan to attend the meetings as special guest to have an idea of the Saarc process, diplomatic sources told The Daily Star.

Afghanistan will not be participating in the deliberations but will attend the meetings as observer, they added. Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta will attend the meetings on special invitation.

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

The 13th Saarc Summit in Dhaka had approved Afghanistan's request for the membership of the regional grouping, and subsequently the Standing Committee in April this year evolved a mechanism to induct it as a new member without bringing any change to the Saarc Charter.

The 13th summit also granted China and Japan as observer of the Saarc. Meantime, the Standing Committee agreed to give USA and South Korea observer status of the association.

According to officials, the Saarc Standing Committee will meet on July 31-August 1 and the Programming Committee, comprising senior officials, on July 30. The deputy foreign minister of Afghanistan will attend the Standing Committee meeting.

The Standing Committee, comprising the foreign secretaries, will approve the Saarc budget for 2007 at the meeting and review the activities of different technical committees and working groups.

The foreign secretaries will also provide guidelines for increasing activities in areas of cooperation among the member states in commerce, finance, communications and energy sectors.

The Standing Committee meet will be followed by the 27th Council of Ministers meeting on August 1 and 2. Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will inaugurate the meeting at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

Foreign ministry sources said the Council of Ministers meeting would approve the guidelines concerning Saarc observers and guests, new observers and other recommendations of the Standing Committee.

Briefing newsmen at the airport before his departure for Kuala Lumpur to attend the ARF meeting, Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan yesterday said the Council of Ministers would also consider the formal applications of South Korea, USA and EU to become 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.

The council will also review the reports of Saarc ministerial meetings so far held since the last summit in Dhaka, he added.

Morshed said the Saarc finance ministers meeting held recently in Islamabad approved the framework of the South Asian Development Fund, which will start functioning with initial capital of $300 million.

The foreign minister said the Dhaka Summit and its follow-up actions have proved that a new dynamism has been created in the Saarc.