By KUNA
New Delhi : The 15th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to be held in the Sri Lankan city of Kandy from July 27 this year, is likely to see Iran’s participation as an observer nation.
“Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse visited Kandy yesterday to review all facilities and security arrangements for the summit,” a Sri Lankan government official told news agency Press Trust of India Tuesday at the capital city Colombo.
The week-long summit will conclude on August 3 and is expected to be attended by SAARC heads of state and heads of governments.
Nearly 1,000 delegates from the SAARC member countries and 300 journalists are likely to attend the summit, the news agency said.
SAARC comprises India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Afghanistan. The 14th SAARC summit was held in April 2007 in Delhi. Afghanistan was admitted as the member country of SAARC at the summit.
The United States, European Union, China, Japan and South Korea attended the last summit as observers. This year Iran is also likely to attend the summit as an observer. Tehran was granted an observer status at the New Delhi summit. The 14th SAARC summit agreed to improve intra-regional connectivity, particularly physical, economic and people-to-people connectivity. During the Summit, two important Agreements on the establishment of the South Asian University and the SAARC Food Bank were signed. The Food Bank is an exemplary model of regional cooperation to meet collectively the region’s food shortages in times of emergencies and natural calamities. The South Asian University will be developed as a centre of excellence in higher education for the entire region.
At the last summit, the SAARC countries also agreed to work together on a roadmap, inter alia, in the fields of poverty alleviation, food security, energy, water, environment, climate change, trade and transport, information and communication technology, tourism, education, culture and counter-terrorism.