By IANS,
New Delhi : Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh is leaving for Thimphu Thursday for a conference of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations. This will be his first foreign trip after he took the charge as India’s top security official early this month.
In the scenic Bhutanese capital, Singh will attend the fourth meeting of home and interior secretaries of eight SAARC countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — to be held Friday, a statement said.
This will be followed by the fourth meeting of SAARC home and interior ministers Saturday, to be attended by union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.
The security conferences are aimed at fostering greater ties among SAARC nations and strengthening police cooperation and other means to combat terrorism afflicting the region.
The conferences will review the progress made in the implementation of the decisions taken at the third meeting last year in Islamabad.
The 2010 conferences discussed proposals like maritime security and anti-piracy operations under the SAARC charter.