17th SAARC summit begins in Maldives today

ADDU (Maldives), Nov 9: The 17th SAARC summit begins in this picturesque southern island city in the Maldives tomorrow (Thursday) with a theme "Building Bridges", reports UNB. The theme emphasises the fact that the eight-member regional forum comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will strive not only to span the physical distances but also strengthen political and trade relations among the member nations. The notion of bridging differences would be represented as the overarching theme of the summit rather than any set diplomatic aims. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leads the Bangladesh delegation to the summit. Other SAARC leaders also arrived in Addu to attend the annual summit meeting. The 17th summit is expected to sign several agreements including one for setting SAARC Seed Bank to boost food production and enable the member states to attain self-sufficiency in food. It is expected that the Maldives summit would effectively address the critical issues facing the member states including the adverse impact of the climate change, food security, and increased trade and economic cooperation for the betterment of 1.5 billion South Asians. On the sidelines of the summit, SAARC leaders will hold bilateral meetings. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will hold bilateral meeting tomorrow (Thursday). It is also expected that the meeting would help resolve the remaining bilateral issues including the sharing of water of the Teesta River. One of the main objectives of the 26-year-old SAARC that began its journey from Bangladesh in 1985 is to concentrate on areas where member countries will benefit by mutual cooperation. Enhanced cooperation in different areas will lead to a better understanding of the problems that beset the member countries and thus reduce the margin of possible conflict. The opening session of the 17th SAARC summit will be held at Hithadhoo Convention Centre at 1430 Hrs. The summit is expected to take up a number of issues like climate change, connectivity and trade and economic cooperation which are critically important for the member states. The summit will review the progress made since the last summit in Bhutan and seek to explore new areas of cooperation while strengthening the fields where cooperation is delivering the benefits. It is expected that the South Asian leaders would spare no efforts to turn the forum more action-oriented towards the avowed goal of collective cooperation.