President leaves today for SAARC summit in Maldives

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will leave for Maldives on Tuesday to attend the 17th South Asian Association of Regional Corporation (SAARC) to be held from November 10 -11.

All the heads of eight SAARC member nations have confirmed their attendance at the SAARC Summit to be held in Addu City of Maldives under the theme ‘Building Bridges’.

This year’s summit will concentrate on areas where member countries will benefit by mutual co-operation to better understand the problems faced by member countries in order to reduce the margin of possible conflict.

Meanwhile, the 42nd Session of the SAARC Programming Committee began today in the Equatorial Convention Center in Addu.

Sri Lanka’s elite Special Task Force (STF) police are providing part of the security for the summit. Sri Lanka will also be sending specially trained K-9 dogs to detect explosives.

Maldivian authorities plan to deploy the STF units and the dogs in and around the location of the summit, especially to the hall where the main conference is to take place.