Pitching for freer movement of goods, services and people across South Asia, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday warned that the region faces the risk of "marginalisation and stagnation" if member countries fail to build SAARC as a group that is better connected and better empowered.
Official sources told PTI that Speaker of the Peoples' Majlis Abdullah Shahid has sent a formal invitation to the prime minister to address the Majlis during his official visit to Maldives for the two-day SAARC Summit on November 10-11, which has been accepted.
With this year's summit, the seven-member grouping founded in Dhaka in 1985 steps into its third decade.
India on Wednesday said it has no plans for a structured meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the 18th SAARC summit.
Islamabad is awaiting India's response to its suggestion that the twice-postponed regional summit be held mid-April.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, currently in Maldives attending the SAARC summit, told rediff.com on Thursday that anything between India and Pakistan is spectacular, when asked whether the two countries could expect anything impressive from the meet.
India and other Saarc countries have decided to work towards creation of a South Asian Economic Union and establishment of a regional food bank.
The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday said it has attached Indian assets of a Sri Lankan man and his son as part of a drugs-linked money laundering investigation against them.
He was addressing mediapersons at the end of the SAARC Summit.
He asked SAARC countries to emulate Bhutan, which took military action to evict anti-India militants from its soil.
The Pakistani foreign minister will also visit five other SAARC nations.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday met President Pratibha Patil and discussed various issues of national and international importance, including the forthcoming SAARC summit.
Striking a positive note ahead of the Indo-Pak prime ministerial meeting, India on Wednesday said the trust deficit with its neighbour was "shrinking" and there was a very positive atmosphere.
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.
Aziz will begin his tour with a visit to Bangladesh, which will be hosting the SAARC summit next year, and wind up with a visit to New Delhi.
While admitting that there is still a long way to go before India-Pakistan relationship can be termed excellent, government sources on Wednesday expressed happiness over the progress made in the ties between the two Asian neighbours.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation on Wednesday decided to associate Iran as an observer making it the sixth nation of the grouping to have that status.
Natwar on a three-day visit to Bangladesh from Saturday
In reality SAARC is largely a name board with annual rituals, not always regularly observed.
At the SAARC summit in Thimphu, India and Pakistan have, at last, found a mutually suitable language for public use and may have kickstarted a process that may eventually lead to a broader dialogue. Sheela Bhatt analyses the talks from Thimphu.
On location to cover the ongoing SAARC summit, Sheela Bhatt strolls through the valleys of this tranquil wonderland called Thimphu; and meets interesting personalities amidst ethereal surroundings.
Less than a year after their controversial engagement in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani will meet in Thimphu on with little expectations of any breakthrough. The two leaders shook hands twice during the opening day of the SAARC Summit today and Singh is expected to convey India's strong demand for action by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attack to Gilani.
India on Thursday pitched for unleashing the "collective strength" of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation as External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj underlined the need for a South Asian Economic Union with greater connectivity and forward movement on pending agreements on rail and motor vehicles.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not mince words when media persons hurled a volley of questions at him while returning from Maldives. Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore, who was part of the media delegation on board prime minister's special aircraft, reports.
Cornered back home for his "man of peace" remarks about his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani at the ongoing SAARC summit in Maldives, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday went on the offensive stating that the ties between the two countries were far from normal.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for praising his Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani, saying he has the "habit of giving certificates" to heads of state while his government continues to adopt a weak stand against cross-border terrorism.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has "erred" in calling his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani a "man of peace" as his country continues to sponsor cross-border terrorism.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday met his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Maldives to give a push to normalisation of bilateral relations marked by "shrinking" trust deficit.
A multi-layer security arrangement involving five companies of paramilitary personnel, NSG commandoes and snipers have already been deployed around the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Drone cameras have also been put into service.
China's profile as the South Asia's leading interlocutor highlights India's inability to lead its own sub-region. This is the stark message that the Indian establishment needs to cull from the Thimpu SAARC summit.
Pakistan agreed to a change in the format for future talks with India in return for New Delhi's consent to resume broad-based engagement with it, diplomatic sources said on Friday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday emphasised the need for all political parties in Nepal to sink their differences and come together to push the peace process as he met his Nepalese counterpart Madhav Kumar Nepal.
India on Wednesday announced setting up of a fund that would help South Asia effectively meet urgent adaptation and capacity building needs posed by climate change and also proposed establishment of innovation centres in the region to develop sustainable energy technologies.
Sources in the Indian Intelligence Bureau told rediff.com that Madhuri Gupta, who was working in the press wing of the Indian High Commission in Pakistan, was passing on sensitive information to Pakistani intelligence agencies for kickbacks.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Reza Gilani on the sidelines of the 15th SAARC Summit in Colombo against the backdrop of a spurt in terrorist activities against Indian installations and infiltration across the Line of Control.
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