PM to represent Nepal in SAARC summit

KATHMANDU, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Nepali caretaker Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala will himself represent Nepal in the 15th South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SAARC) summit in the first week of August in Colombo of Sri Lanka.

The decision came after a meeting held Wednesday morning among the leaders of the four major parties -- the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M), the Nepali Congress (NC), the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) (CPN-UML) and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum.

NC Vice-President Ram Chandra Poudel, who took part in the meeting, told journalists that due to the time constraint to take part in the SAARC summit and uncomfortable situation in the country, the leaders decided that the Prime Minister will head the Nepali delegation.

The leaders of the other parties seriously took the issue floated by the NC, Poudel said.

CPN-UML senior leader Amrit Kumar Bohara said they agreed on the representation of the PM in the SAARC summit as they were of the view that the country's image should not be tarnished in international arena and the current political deadlock should be resolved.

Earlier, Koirala had called a consultative meeting here for national consensus not to tarnish the country's image in international arena as the CPN-M and CPN-UML had made separate agreement in principle regarding the representation of Koirala in the SAARC summit.

Founded in 1985, the SAARC includes Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan.