Nepal has shifted the 18th SAARC summit venue to the capital Kathmandu from Pokhara.
The summit was scheduled to be held at Nepal's Pokhara in November.
The decision to change the venue came due to lack of infrastructure including an international airport, reports the Press Trust of India.
Mahendra Pandey, Nepal's minister for foreign affairs, said: "We regret for the failure to hold the SAARC Summit in one of the best places of the country, Pokhara, due to lack of infrastructure including an international airport."
He, however, said that the government is making preparations for holding the next Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) meeting in Pokhara. The meeting of BIMSTEC, the regional sub-grouping is held every two years.
SAARC anthem
Pandey while talking to a team of artists in Kathmandu, underlined the need for an anthem to connect the people of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations.
A delegation of artists proposed a song written by the Indian diplomat, Abhay Kumar, to be chosen as the formal SAARC anthem.
He has said the song has to be presented formally in the upcoming SAARC summit before it is approved unanimously as the formal SAARC anthem.
The languages of all the eight SAARC nations, Nepal, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been used in the proposed anthem.
