Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday arrived in Maldives to lead Pakistan’s delegation to the 17th SAARC Summit which will start on Thursday in this beautiful small island of the South Asian nation.
The prime minister was accorded a red carpet welcome when he alighted from a special plane. He was received at the Gan International Airport by Maldives President Mohammad Nasheed and other officials. He was presented a bouquet by two children and national anthems of the two countries were played.
The two leaders introduced members of their delegations to each other. A smartly turned out contingent of Maldivian armed forces presented salute to Prime Minister Gilani. He reviewed the guard of honour. He was accompanied by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Communications Minister Arbab Alamgir Khan and Ports and Shipping Minister Babar Khan Ghauri.
The summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will be attended by heads of states and governments of its eight member countries, including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Maldives and representatives of observer states.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and other officials of the Foreign Office have already arrived here to attend the SAARC Summit. The Maldivian government has made extensive arrangements for the Summit despite limited resources and lack of land due to the country of islands.
The summit will adopt a declaration titled “building bridges”, which will focus on issues ranging from physical connectivity in the region to trade, economic, financial and environmental cooperation. During the summit, Prime Minister Gilani is expected to highlight important issues like matters relating to poverty alleviation, energy cooperation, agriculture and rural development, and others in his key address.
Bilateral meetings of Prime Minister Gilani with his counterparts of SAARC countries have been scheduled on the sidelines of the summit. It is expected that he will also hold a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Maldives is hosting the third summit of this organization which was founded at Dhaka in 1985.
