SAARC officials firm up agenda for Nov 10-11 summit
Monday November 07, 2011 06:52:03 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi: Foreign
secretaries and senior officials of eight SAARC countries met
Monday at the Addu Atoll in the Maldives to firm up the agenda for
the Nov 10-11 summit that is expected to result in pacts on
setting up a regional seed bank and a rapid action force for
natural disasters.
The two-day meeting of the standing committee of senior officials
from South Asian countries is expected to forward its
recommendations Tuesday to the SAARC foreign ministers, who will
meet Wednesday to clear the agenda for the 17th summit that begins
Thursday.
Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai represented India at the meeting
of the officials held at the newly-constructed Equatorial
Convention Centre at the Addu Atoll in the Maldives.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves Wednesday for the 17th South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit that
focuses on the overarching theme of "Building Bridges".
The officials discussed the details of the four agreements that
are expected to be signed at the summit.
Two custom and trade-related agreements will be signed. An
agreement on a seed bank to boost agricultural productivity and
another pact on setting up a rapid action force to deal with
natural disasters like cyclone and quakes are expected to be
signed.
The rapid action force mechanism entails quick deployment of
assistance teams in emergency situations and post-disaster
delivery of relief.
The summit is expected to culminate in a joint declaration Friday
afternoon that will include new initiatives for greater
intra-regional trade and connectivity.
The officials also discussed a slew of proposals firmed up by the
South Asia Forum held in New Delhi recently that brought together
the governments and civil society actors of South Asian countries
to develop a new vision for the region in its next 25 years.
Ahead of the summit, India has emphasised on the need for the
region to improve the infrastructure of connectivity and trade.
"It also needs better people-to-people contact to entrench the
habit of regional cooperation," Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai
said here Saturday before he left for the Maldives for the meeting
of SAARC officials.
The SAARC Programming Committee met Monday in the Maldives and is
understood to have cleared a $2.7 million budget proposed by its
members for the functioning of the SAARC Secretariat.
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