This was revealed here by foreign affairs adviser of Bangladesh Reaz Rahman on Saturday, reported the official Bangladesh News Agency.

Rahman, who is also the chief national coordinator of the summit, said the most important day of the summit would be the first day. Besides formal opening, the heads of government may meet later on the same day. The summit has now assumed a new microshape instead of macro under the previous schedule, he added.

Rahman termed the new dates for the summit as a very "happy development", saying the proposed cultural festival during the summit might be dropped in view of the tsunami disaster.

The foreign affairs adviser also chaired a meeting of the high commissioners and ambassadors of the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on Saturday.

SAARC groups seven countries in the region, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

A tentative program prepared by Bangladesh for the 13th SAARC Summit were handed over to the envoys here at the meeting.

The envoys will send the programs to their respective countries for approval, director general of external publicity Zahirul Haq was quoted as saying, adding the final program would be chalked out only after the approval from the respective countries reach here on Tuesday.

Haq said the heads of state and government would arrive on Feb.5. Bhutan will be the first to arrive while Sri Lanka would be the last guest. All the dignitaries would be given guard of honor during their arrivals at the Zia international airport.

The 13th SAARC summit was supposed to be held on Jan. 9-11, but was put off following the Dec. 26 earthquake-tsunami disaster that hardly hit three SAARC members including India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.