The leaders of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka observed a minute's silence for victims of the two disasters as they opened the 13th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

"These (disasters) have taken a huge toll in terms of lives and property and our heart goes out to the victims," Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said in an inaugural address.

More than 30,000 troops have been deployed specifically for the summit in the capital Dhaka where police have been on high alert since a series of small bomb blasts in August and October killed five people and injured dozens.

"Never before in our history has the country seen such a security arrangement," said Bangladesh national police chief Abdul Kaiyum.

Bangladesh's elite President's Guard Regiment took over security at the capital's airport earlier in the week while troops have been posted on key streets and road blocks erected along routes to the summit venues.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the October 8 earthquake had caused the "immeasurable loss of precious lives".

Some 73,000 people died in Pakistan while 1,300 lost their lives in Indian territory.

The Asian tsunami disaster last December 26 claimed more than 47,000 lives in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India. An estimated 131,000 died in the Indonesian province of Aceh alone.

"I wish to affirm our total solidarity to all the countries who have suffered in these disasters and pledge to overcome the mammoth task of rehabilitation," Aziz said.

The weekend summit will also approve the setting up of a disaster preparedness centre in the Indian capital New Delhi. Cyclones and floods also strike the region regularly, often with massive loss of life.

"This summit should evolve regional mechanisms for effective and timely cooperation in disaster relief and management," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the inaugural session.

"We are glad that India's offer to host the SAARC Center for Disaster Preparedness has been accepted," he added.

The Dhaka meet is also expected to result in an agreeement on the implementation of a previously approved South Asian free trade agreement.

The South Asian Free Trade Agreement was signed at the last SAARC summit in Islamabad in January 2004 with January 1, 2006 set as a deadline for implementation.

But negotiations have since stumbled over a sensitive list of products, rules of origin and a compensation mechanism for the least developed countries.

Strategies for combating terrorism are also expected from the meeting.

The summit marks the 20th anniversary of SAARC's creation in Dhaka in 1985.

The grouping was formed amid much optimism to forge economic solidarity and boost living standards among the region's 1.4 billion people, although critics say it has failed to live up to its promise.

South Asia is home to half the world's poor, with 40 percent living on less than a dollar a day, according to the World Bank.

Zia said member countries must renew their efforts to improve living standards in the region.

"(We) must join the Asian mainstream of economic growth, prosperity and development," she added.

Last week police even rounded up Dhaka's beggars and vagrants who were being detained in another part of the city during the summit. Police said they feared terrorists would try to use vagrants to disrupt the talks.

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