Aziz lamented the fact that south Asia lagged behind its neighbourhood.
Leaders of Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan have also decided not to attend the summit, which now has to be cancelled as per the SAARC charter.
In reality SAARC is largely a name board with annual rituals, not always regularly observed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders of other South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries will meet in Kathmandu on Wednesday with an aim to revitalise the regional grouping and make it a major platform to fuel economic growth through liberalised trade and combat challenges of terrorism and climate change effectively.
Regretting that over 90 per cent of requirements of South Asian countries were still sourced from outside the region, India on Monday asked SAARC nations to build a strong framework of regional economic cooperation, which should be "workable" and "pr
Kaya Skin Clinic, a venture of Marico Industries, has planned to set up shops in SAARC countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka while expecting a turnover of over Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) during 2004-05.
It is expected that this meeting could possibly pave the way for a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in the US later this month.
During the meeting, the external affairs minister highlighted the foreign policy aspects in the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance government.
Countries in South Asia on Tuesday agreed to work on further opening up markets for the members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, as a measure to deal with the global downturn.
Narendra Modi has sent across a very strong message to the states that they may have their concerns but not the last word on foreign policy, former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing C D Sahay, tells Vicky Nanjappa.
The two day meeting from May 31 will review the status of India's relations with these countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to seek the cooperation of India's neighbours to check extremist violence and to adopt an approach of zero tolerance towards terrorism at the two-day South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit which begins on Wednesday in Kathmandu.
In a face saver, SAARC countries signed a framework agreement on cooperation in power sector but failed to finalise the much-awaited motor vehicle and railway pacts
The LTTE on Tuesday declared unilateral ceasefire from July 26 to August 4 keeping in mind the SAARC summit.
The home minister will reach Islamabad on Wednesday and return to New Delhi the next day after attending the 7th meeting of SAARC.
The brief encounter took place at the SAARC Foreign Ministers' meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, which is currently on in New York.
Organisations are facing growing privacy concerns over the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) while getting attractive returns from investments in privacy, according to Cisco's latest Data Privacy Benchmark Study. The findings highlight the responses from 2,600 privacy and security professionals across 12 geographies, said the annual review of key privacy issues impacting business. "Organisations see GenAI as a fundamentally different technology with novel challenges to consider," said Dev Stahlkopf, Cisco Chief Legal Officer.
In unusual comments at the SAARC forum, Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed on Wednesday talked about strained relations between India and Pakistan, saying that he hoped that tomorrow's meeting between the two countries' Prime Ministers will lead to resolution of their differences.
Fiat India on Tuesday said that it is planning to export its cars in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries to boost its export volumes.
India continued their stranglehold on the SAARC Carrom Championships by clinching the men's and women's team championships for the 13th year running at the MIG Club in Mumbai, on Saturday. Indian men and women outclassed their corresponding rivals from Sri Lanka by identical 3-0 margin to win the top honours in the 13th edition of the tournament.
China and the United States have already been admitted as Observers by SAARC and Iran too has evinced interest to join.
In the first high-level bilateral visit since Mumbai terror attacks, Home Minister P Chidambaram will travel to Pakistan on February 26 for a SAARC meeting on a two-day visit that is expected to break the deadlock in Indo-Pak dialogue.
This is India's fifth consecutive victory and the fourth time that they beat Sri Lanka in the final.
In a move to open up the sky in South Asia, India on Saturday unilaterally offered all Saarc nations the facility of daily air services to six metros and an unlimited number to 18 to other major destinations on a reciprocal basis.
The meeting between Jaishankar and Zameer in the Ugandan capital city of Kampala came amid an unease in the Maldives' bilateral ties with India.
SAARC nations, including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal are projected to have a fuel deficit of 17.05 million tons by 2015 and 20.85 million tons by the year 2020. IOC has said if the SAARC countries accept a long-term tie up with IOC for the supply of petroleum products, it can suitably expand some of its existing refineries to meet their requirement on mutually agreed terms based on international prices.
Dhaka is not in favour of full membership to Afghanistan and instead supports observer status to it, informed sources said.
It is a simple vegetarian spread 'with less spices and oil' for Prime Minister Narendra Modi while his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif is having halal meat dishes during their stay in Nepal for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit.
In a statement on the eve of his departure to Colombo for attending the Summit, the prime minister said during the 23 years since SAARC was established, the South Asian region had traversed a long distance. 'Today, there is a realization amongst SAARC countries that it is only by cooperating within SAARC that we will be able to strengthen ourselves individually and as a region and address the many common challenges that face us,' he said in his statement.
Under the shadow of the serial blasts in India, foreign ministers of the eight-member South Asian association for Regional Cooperation met on Thursday in Colombo to set the agenda for the weekend summit aimed at boosting trade ties and combating the food and energy crisis.
This will be External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh's first visit to Pakistan after assuming office.
'As long as India and Pakistan remain at loggerheads, SAARC\n\nis dead in the water. So why go through with this charade?' asks Ramananda Sengupta.
Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Wednesday hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to his country during the next SAARC meet would go beyond SAARC issues.
The twice-postponed meeting of SAARC Home Ministers to discuss ways to combat terrorism, extremism and drug trafficking in the region is now likely to be held in Islamabad in June this year.
India's envoy to Austria, Sheel Kant Sharma, will be next secretary general of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced on Friday.
It is time the political leaderships in this country arrived at a common ground over issues of foreign and security policy concerns. There has to be a greater communication between the government and the Opposition leaderships for the nation to present a unified face against the rest of the world, advises N Sathiya Moorthy.
Persisting ambiguity over the possibility of an Indo-Pak dialogue taking place on the sidelines of next week's SAARC summit in Bhutan, has once again hijacked attention from broader and more complex issues involving this nearly 25-year-old regional grouping.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances