India has offered to host a disaster preparedness and management center for South Asia where almost 300,000 people were killed over the last year by a tsunami and an earthquake.
The Indian offer was made at a meeting of foreign secretaries in Dhaka to prepare for a summit of the seven member South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation, known as SAARC.
SAARC groups India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Bhutan.
The offer will also be discussed at Friday's meeting of seven foreign ministers.
If approved by the foreign ministers, the Indian offer will then be presented at an annual summit of South Asian leaders this Saturday and Sunday. The summit agenda this year includes disaster management and ways to end poverty in this region.
Meanwhile, unprecedented security measures have been taken in Dhaka for the summit. Matiur Rahman Choudhury has the details.
