Minister-level meeting positive on holding regional SAARC summit

New York - The SAARC ministry-level meeting discussed the agenda of organizing upcoming SAARC Summit on Thursday. 

The meeting of the Foreign/External Affairs Ministers representing the SAARC member-nation in the 72nd Sessions of the UNGA dwelt on the agenda in regard to hold the upcoming SAATC Summit with positive note. 

In the meeting organized on behalf of the Nepal government, the external affairs ministers from all SAARC countries except Sri Lanka had participated, shared Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara. 

"All the participants aired their views on the importance of SAARC. We presented a proposal to organize the SAARC Summit. It is Pakistan's turn to host next SAARC Summit. The meeting concluded with a note for the Secretariat to set the date for Summit", he informed. 

There has been so far no progress on the organizing of the 19th Summit after Nepal hosted the 18th. The 18th Summit had decided to organize the next Summit in Pakistan. 

In this context, the meeting of external affairs ministers is positive in itself. During the meeting, Nepal, as Chair of SAARC, emphasized on the need for further deepening regional cooperation and connectivity and in this regard called for hosting the SAARC Summit at earliest convenient date. 

Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi shared that the minister level meeting took stock the status of the decisions of the 18th SAARC Summit and the member nations shared details of country-specific responsibilities agreed earlier for the implementation of the decisions.