Dhaka: Senior officials of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will meet in Kathmandu on February 1-2 for the first time since the Summit was postponed last year.

The 19th SAARC Summit, originally scheduled to be held on November 9 and 10 last year in Islamabad, was postponed as a number of SAARC member states out of its eight members -- Bangladesh, India, Bhutan and Afghanistan -- conveyed their inability to attend the summit amid tension between India and Pakistan over Kashmir issue.

During the meeting, the SAARC member states will discuss a number of issues, including the budget of the SAARC Secretariat and five regional centers of Saarc, The Times of India reported from Kathmandu quoting Foreign Ministry sources.

The matter relating to rescheduling the next SAARC summit will also come up during the meeting, to be attended by joint secretaries of the SAARC countries, it said.

SAARC is a regional body founded in 1985 in South Asia, comprising Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.