- बिहीबार, १६ चैत, २०७९
Kathmandu, Dec. 7: The 35th meeting of the Council of Ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is taking place in Male, the capital of the Maldives from February 17 to 20.
Talking briefly to RSS, Secretary General of SAARC, Ahmed Saleem gave out this information. He said that the internal political developments of the member countries should not obstruct the SAARC process, expressing the confidence that the meeting to be attended by the foreign ministers of the member countries would pave the way for the XVIII SAARC Summit.
“Elections have already been held in the Maldives and Nepal. I am hopeful the SAARC summit would be held here next year with the meeting of the SAARC council of ministers approving the decision of the XVII SAARC summit to hold the XVIII summit in Nepal,” he said.
Stating that all the member countries have agreed to participate in the meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers after making tireless efforts since long, Secretary General Saleem reiterated it was essential that the SAARC summit, the only forum that brings together the highest political leadership of all the member nations at the same platform, should be held regularly.
The XVII SAARC summit held at Addu city in Maldives had decided to hold the XVIII summit of the regional body in Nepal. The organization of the summit had become uncertain as the meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers could not take place due to the internal matters of Nepal and other different causes.
Before this, the SAARC Council of Ministers held its informal meeting in New York, U.S.A. on September 25 when the foreign ministers of the SAARC member countries were there in connection with attending the U.N. General Assembly.
As per the SAARC constitution, the Council of Ministers meets every two years.
Maldives is the present chair of SAARC and it is practice that the chair country formally calls the SAARC Summit and the Council of Ministers’ meeting. RSS
