The fifteenth South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit, scheduled August 2-3 at Colombo will focus on terrorism, food security and energy issues amid, concerns over high crude oil and food prices besides increased terrorist activities in the region.
A two-day meeting of the programming committee, consisting of senior officials from the member-countries, set the process for the SAARC Summit in motion Sunday. The committee met to take stock of the nitty-gritty of arrangements for the summit. This will be followed by a two-day meeting of the Foreign Secretaries to draw up the agenda for the Summit.
Addressing a news conference after the meeting, the Additional Secretary to the Foreign Ministry and Media spokesman for SAAR, Prasad Kariyawasam said the summit would focus on meaningful ways to uphold its theme "Partnership for Our People." In this direction SAARC would debate practical and meaningful ways to propel the vision of growth in the region through partnership, he said.
This year's theme was a progression from last year's theme of connectivity after the leaders realized that SAARC had to evolve into a more people-centered organization, he said.
The SAARC Summit is set to adopt four agreements, including SAARC Development Fund (SDF) with a corpus of $307 million, South Asian Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters, an agreement on the establishment of the South Asia Regional Standards Organization and a pact for formal entry of Afghanistan into the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).
Among the other issues that would be discussed are a fund to manage food crisis, an approach towards SAARC common currency and mechanisms to augment resources in the region to tackle the situation arising out of the fuel price hike.
Among others, SAARC has been considering proposals like Poverty Alleviation Fund, Infrastructure Fund, South Asian Development Bank, Media Development Fund, and Voluntary Fund for the Differently Able Persons, in addition to the SDF.
The SAARC was established following the adoption of its charter on December 8, 1985 by the heads of state or government of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In April last year, at the association's 14th summit, Afghanistan became its eighth member.
The cooperation of the SAARC is based on the broader principles of respect for the principles of sovereign equality, territorial integrity, political independence, non-interference in the internal affairs of the member-states and on mutual benefit. The highest authority of the association rests with the heads of the various state or government.
The Summit is being held amid unprecedented security measures in view of the ongoing war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and the Tamil Tiger rebels widely known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north.
The rebels have announced a unilateral cease-fire from July 26 to August 4 but on conditions that troops would not target it during this period. However, the government refused to accept the offer saying that it was a ploy by the battered Tigers to gain a breather on the battlefront.
The two-day SAARC Summit, with a retreat on the second day at Parliament House on the outskirts of Colombo, the national capital, could see some heads of the state holding bilateral meetings on the sidelines with their counterparts from other member-countries.
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