India has rejected an offer from Pakistan to provide any technical and monetary support for the SAARC satellite project. During a meeting of the space scientists of SAARC countries recently, India also turned down Pakistan's offer to take the satellite project to the regional level by saying that the satellite it was developing was a "gift" by the country to its neighbours and now turning into a "SAARC project" will only make it complicated. The satellite is to be launched on December 8, 2016.
During last SAARC Summit in Nepal in November, Modi had announced India’s decision to develop the satellite, which will benefit all SAARC countries in various fields, including telecommunication and tele-medicine. Indian officials said Pakistan had initially given a cold response to the project but later sent an eight- member Pakistani delegation to attend the meeting, also attended by experts from all SAARC member-States to discuss modalities of the project.
India, however, has told Pakistan that it was open to consultations with it and other SAARC nations on their requirements from the project and it is learnt that several countries have given their wishlist.