ISLAMABAD, 12 March 2021, (TON): Foreign office of Pakistan said on Thursday that it was ready to host Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which has been delayed since 2016.

Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry said in the media briefing, “Pakistan is committed to its process and to hold the SAARC summit. It believes that all artificial obstacles in the way of the long-overdue SAARC summit should be removed.”

During the foreign office media briefing, Chaudhri also rejected the reports that Pakistan is importing COVID-19 vaccine from India.

He said while responding to a question that, "Pakistan has not entered into any bilateral procurement agreement for COVID-19 vaccine from India."

The first SAARC Summit was held in Dhaka on 8th December 1985.

The 18^th SAARC summit was held in Kathmandu in 2014 which is considered as a failure. However, the failure of 18th summit clarified the need for India to bilaterally pursue its security and connectivity priorities with its north-eastern and southern neighbors.

The 19^th Summit was to be held in Islamabad, but got cancelled after an attack on Indian army camp in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.