KATMANDU-
South Asian leaders, including from rivals India and Pakistan, have gathered in Nepal’s capital to boost cooperation in trade and energy and seek greater peace in the region, home to more than a fifth of the world’s population.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit is the first since 2011. It is supposed to be held annually, but is often shelved due to member nations disagreeing on dates, and the rivalry between India and Pakistan.
Leaders from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are expected to meet as a group and also hold bilateral discussions on the sidelines of the two-day summit, which ends Thursday.
The prime ministers of Pakistan and India may meet on the sidelines, but no official announcement has been made.
PM Nawaz Sharif addressed opening session on Wednesday with hopes that the 30 decades old regional alliance finally makes some headway and fulfills the hopes of its billion and half impoverished population.
“I have brought sentiments of good will and friendship here, hoping that this summit will help us create a win-win scenario and opportunities for the people of South Asia,” he said.
“The Saarc countries must promote regional cooperation in South Asia. I hope that South Asia counties will join hands under the Saarc banner, to make this region peaceful and eliminate major problems facing the people, like illiteracy, poverty and unemployment,” the PM said in his address.
“We must develop an action plan to battle these issues, besides gaining the strength in the fields of communication and technology,” he said, adding that Saarc must contribute towards interfaith and inter-culture harmony “which is beauty of this region”.
Apart from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, other leaders of the eight member alliance attending the Summit are Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, Sheikh Hasina Wajid, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Lyonchhen Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bhutan,
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, President of Maldives, Sushil Koirala, Prime Minister of Nepal and Mahenda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka.
He said the theme of the Summit, ‘Deeper Integration for Peace and Prosperity’, requires a desire that the Saarc countries must take some practical steps towards regional peace.
Yesterday, 36th session of the Council of Ministers, attended by the foreign ministers of member states, deliberated on a number of issues under the SAARC areas of cooperation.
Pakistan was represented by adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.
The Council of Ministers took stock of the SAARC’s progress, discussed the recommendations made by the Standing Committee that met on November 23-24, and took a range of decisions for the strengthening of the SAARC processes.
The Council prepared recommendations for consideration at the Summit and also finalized the Declaration of the Summit, which was drafted by the Programming Committee and discussed at the Standing Committee, for adoption by the leaders
