During a meeting of space experts from SAARC countries to discuss the modalities of the project last week, India also did not favour suggestions that it should be brought under the ambit of SAARC, asserting that deliberations at <g data-gr-id="30">bloc</g> level would delay the launch of the satellite on December 8, 2016, the SAARC Day when the government intends to do so.
Modi, during last SAARC Summit in Nepal in November, had announced India's decision to develop the satellite which will benefit all SAARC countries in various fields including telecommunication and <g data-gr-id="24">tele-medicine</g>.
After giving "cold response" to the project, an eight- member Pakistani delegation attended the Space Technology meet on June 22 which saw the presence of experts from all SAARC member states. Among the South Asian nations, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have fairly advanced space programmes.
"There was a proposal from the Pakistani side that it was ready to offer monetary and technical support. We politely declined it as the project is a gift from India to its SAARC neighbours," said a senior government official.
It has also declined demands from Pakistan that the satellite project should be taken up at the regional level.
India said since it was a "gift" to its neighbours, it did not want to make it <g data-gr-id="27">a "SAARC</g> project". "This would have meant deliberations and opinions from other countries and that would have taken time. The Prime Minister has specifically said that it was India's gift to its neighbours,” the official said.