ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani will lead the Pakistani delegation to the 17th SAARC Summit to be held in Addu City, the Maldives on November 10-11.

Heads of States of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka would be attending the Summit.

Representatives from the Observer States will also be participating in the Summit.

The Summit will be preceded by the meetings of Council of Foreign Ministers and the Standing Committee.

The Summit will adopt a declaration titled “Building Bridges”, which will focus on issues ranging from physical connectivity in the region to trade, economic, financial and environmental cooperation.

In addition, the Secretariat of SAARC Development Fund would also be inaugurated at the Summit.

During the Summit, the Prime Minister is expected to highlight issues like matters relating to poverty alleviation, energy cooperation, interaction in agriculture and rural development, cooperation on promotion of welfare of women and children and development of better health facilities for the people of South Asia in his key address.

While lending unconditional support to regional initiatives, Pakistan hopes to further consolidate its bilateral relations with SAARC member countries.

Bilateral meetings of the Prime Minister with his counterparts of SAARC countries have been scheduled in this regard.

The Prime Minister will also hold bilateral meetings with the representatives of some observer states.