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KATHMANDU, Dec 3 (AFP) - Two senior Nepalese ministers left Monday for visits around the region ahead of a South Asian summit planned here next month.

The ministers are due to hand over formal invitations for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, slated for Kathmandu from January 4 to 6, which may be the site of an Indian-Pakistani summit.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee have not met since July when a summit in the Indian city of Agra ended in deadlock, largely over the longstanding Kashmir dispute.

A spokesman for Nepal's foreign ministry said Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat left for India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka and Agriculture Minister Mahesh Acharya was headed to Bangladesh, Bhutan and Pakistan.

Nepal has assured that the long-delayed SAARC summit will go ahead despite a renewal of fighting between the government and Maoist rebels.

India, Nepal's key supplier of weapons, has strongly backed Nepal's crackdown on the rebels, who ended a four-month ceasefire November 24 after three rounds of peace talks failed to yield a breakthrough. 

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