Military-ruled Myanmar said it had completed its preparations for hosting next week's Buddhist summit despite a call for a boycott and the withdrawal of key Japanese sponsorship.
The regime has built a new convention hall and spruced up temples for the fourth World Buddhist Summit, ignoring international pressure to call it off in the wake of top-level changes within Myanmar's military hierarchy.
"This will be an historic event and we will go ahead on schedule without any change of policy," a report in the state newspaper New Light of Myanmar said on Friday.
Invitations have been sent to top Buddhist leaders from 37 nations, including those in 17 countries who were told by the main sponsor that the summit had been called off, it added.
Last month Japan's Nenbutsushu sect, which has held the summit every two years in a Buddhist nation, withdrew its sponsorship over concerns about the junta's hardline shake-up which included the sacking of premier General Khin Nyunt.
It was originally scheduled for December 9-13 but will now end two days early. Nenbutsushu has said most countries told them they would not attend.
Last month a source from Myanmar's religious affairs department said about 2,500 delegates had been expected but the numbers were now due to be much lower, with 10 of 40 invited countries expected to attend.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based rights group, has called for a boycott of the conference because of the detention of an estimated 300 monks by the regime.
Myanmar's outlawed Young Monks' Association has expressed its support for the boycott.
The junta has been trying to promote religious tourism to the "Land of Pagodas" to help its ailing economy, which is suffering under international sanctions.
The military has ruled Myanmar since a coup in 1962.