By KUNA,
New Delhi : Foreign ministers of the eight-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Thursday began their meeting in Colombo to finalise the agenda of the grouping’s 15th summit on August 2-3.
India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the outgoing SAARC chairman, began the proceedings of the Meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers in Colombo by handing over the Chairmanship to his Sri Lankan counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama, Press Trust of India reported.
Foreign ministers of all other SAARC member states – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Pakistan – are also attending the ministerial meeting. Nepal is represented by its Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat.
In his opening remarks today Bogollagama said that he was keen to transform the SAARC, which implemented it programmes and projects in a more effective manner, the news agency said.
The theme of this year’s summit is ‘The SAARC: Partnership for Our People’. Four pacts – on the SAARC development fund, the SAARC standard coordinating board agreement, the SAARC agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, and the protocol on Afghanistan’s acceptance to the South Asia Free Trade Agreement – are expected to be adopted by the Colombo summit.
“The meeting of the Council of Ministers, which is expected to continue till tomorrow afternoon, will discuss measures to finalise these pacts,” a source in the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry told the news agency.
Crucial issues of terrorism, food security, climate change and energy crisis would be deliberated upon at the Summit, the source said.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will depart for Sri Lanka Friday to attend the SAARC summit that will also see participation of leaders of other South Asian countries.
The other leaders attending the meet will be Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Nepal’s caretaker prime minister G P Koirala, Bangladesh Chief Advisor to interim government Fakhruddin Ahmed, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Bhutan Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley.
Also attending the SAARC summit will be observers from China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, the US, Mauritius, and the European Union.
Two other countries, Australia and Myanmar, have also sought observer status at the SAARC which was formed in 1985.
Dr Manmohan Singh is expected to hold bilateral discussions with President Rajapaksa in Colombo.