President returns after successful South Asian dialogue
Saturday, 29 November 2014 00:00
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President Mahinda Rajapaksa returned to the country after meeting fellow leaders from the South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SAARC) on the sidelines of the 18th SAARC Summit held in Katmandu, Nepal.
The leaders of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, the Maldives and Nepal held bilateral talks with the President.
The Afghan and Sri Lankan leaders paid attention to strengthening education and health cooperation between the two nations. Afghan Leader Ashraf Ghani noted that Sri Lanka has achieved great milestones in the sectors of education and health. He also requested President Rajapaksa to assist in developing these respective fields in his country.
The Prime Minister of Bhutan Tsherin Tobgay noted that many Bhutanese students are seeking higher education in Sri Lanka. He thanked President Rajapaksa for allowing room for Bhutanese youth to complete their higher education in Sri Lanka. He also requested the President to support development of Bhutan’s health sector. The talks with the state leaders of the Maldives and Nepal centred on economic relations and the tourism industry.
Maldivian President Abdhul Yamin Abdhul Gayum held that remarkable development is taking place in Sri Lanka while Nepalese Prime Minister Sushil Koirala pointed out the importance of stability in achieving development goals in a nation.
The 18th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation concluded on 27 November, with the adoption of a 36-point Kathmandu Declaration that emphasised enhancing connectivity, combating terrorism and launching regional and development projects to ensure peace, stability and prosperity in South Asia.
The two-day summit also concluded that the SAARC Summit should be held every two years instead of the current provision of organising it annually. Accordingly, the next SAARC Summit will be held in Pakistan in 2016.
The SAARC Council of Ministers will meet once a year and the Standing Committee at least once a year, while the Programming Committee will convene at least twice a year. It was also decided to make the Programming Committee a charter body. The SAARC Charter will be amended to include the changes.
Leaders from eight SAARC member states took part in the summit. They univocally stressed collective efforts to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and implementing effective cooperation among member states to prevent trafficking of persons, arms and drugs and exploitation of children for forced labour.
They also agreed to review and analyse a previous document regarding the engagement with the observers to establish dialogue partnership.
SAARC Chairman Prime Minister Koirala said that the Kathmandu Summit, held with the theme of ‘Deeper Integration for Peace and Prosperity’, succeeded in deepening cooperation in core areas of trade, investment, finance, energy, infrastructure and connectivity. It also stressed utilising youth power for socio-economic development. It also called for increasing agricultural productivity, ensuring food and nutritional security in the region, providing quality education, eliminating illiteracy and providing vocational education and training to the youth. It also focused on ways to make South Asia an attractive common destination.
