On the eve of the 15th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation to be held in Colombo August 2-3, the US has said it does not believe SAARC is ineffectual and irrelevant and a farce as some in the West and in the region itself contend--who dismiss it as nothing but a group photo-op every few years--and is confident it can grow to be as powerful and influential as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and is understood to have discussed with him the regional situation, particularly in the war-torn country.
United India Insurance Company plans to enter the West Asia and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries to tap the potential in these regions due to a presence of a large India diaspora.
Pakistan has played a spoiler in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation's efforts to firm up agreements on developing intra-regional connectivity and establishing a common response to disasters.A Motor Vehicles Agreement, providing for connectivity between Kabul and Dhaka criss-crossing the region, and a pact on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters, were scheduled to be signed during the upcoming 16th SAARC Summit in Thimphu on April 28-29.
China and the United States have already been admitted as Observers by SAARC and Iran too has evinced interest to join.
Home Ministers from South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation nations discussed ways to strengthen police cooperation and other means to combat terrorism that has afflicted the region. The SAARC Interior Ministers' conference, attended by Home Minister P Chidambaram, also discussed proposals like maritime security and anti-piracy operations under the SAARC charter.
"We see signs of hope. Governments of the region are addressing bilateral political issues. We should break with the past and join hands to overcome the challenges," Dr Singh said.
Viewing terrorism as a 'serious threat' to South Asia's peace and development, members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation on Thursday decided to have regular exchange of information to combat the menace and push efforts for establishing a convention for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.
India on Monday successfully launched five foreign satellites from four countries on board PSLV-C23 rocket which placed them in orbit, an achievement described by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an 'endorsement' of the country's space capabilities.
Greater physical, economic and people-to-people connectivity among SAARC nations can foster growth and development in the region, he added.
"We have always attempted to move ahead with the concept of sabka sath, sabka vikas," Modi said in his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat.
Brotin Banerjee, managing director and CEO of Tata Housing, shares the company's plans and strategy with Raghavendra Kamath.
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.
Foundation of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Writers and Literature have nominated Pakistani journalist and columnist of rediff.com Hamid Mir for the SAARC Lifetime Achievement Award 2010. Mir works for Geo TV in Islamabad.
Finance Ministers of the eight-nation regional bloc South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in their second meeting here agreed to expedite early operationalisation of the Saarc Development Fund.
'The 2017 Doklam stand-off in Bhutan, the 2018 Maldives crisis, and the 2020 Nepal Kalapani border dispute shows how Beijing has shot off these countries' shoulders to target India.'
He emphasised the need for fully opening up the state to the fast economic activities shaping up in the region so that the people of the state could also reap the benefits of economic liberalisation, it said.
India, along with some other members, objected to the proposal and due to lack of consensus or concurrence, the meet has been cancelled.
Leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries vowed to collectively combat the scourge of terrorism, extremism and insurgency plaguing the region with Pakistan and Bangladesh rejecting claims of those who justified violence in the name of Islam.
Pakistan said no meeting had been scheduled between Prime Ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Manmohan Singh till Thursday on the sidelines of the South Asian Association of Regional Corporation summit later this month, though it had proposed one and insisted that restarting dialogue was "a necessity".
Editors of the regional grouping met to discuss issues relating to the region.
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.
Rejecting Pakistan's efforts to define terrorism in any particular way, New Delhi underlined that everyone knows what the scourge constitutes and that it was important to end it.
The meeting was attended by all the cabinet secretaries from the SAARC member states. It was noted that SAARC is transforming into an 'implementation body' and the need to strengthen administrative and delivery mechanisms was emphasized. The cabinet secretaries deliberated upon areas where significant innovations have been tried in various member states to benefit their citizens.
During the SAARC Summit in Colombo in 2008, the Navy had deployed three warships along with helicopters to provide security to the meeting.
Recognising the "serious threat" posed by terrorism to the peace and stability of South Asia, the 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit on Sunday in a declaration supported "strongest possible cooperation" against the menace and signed a key agreement in this regard.
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik have pledged to take more steps to improve bilateral relations. The two leaders, who are in Maldives to attend the South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation home/interior ministers' meeting, met on Tuesday evening and discussed a wide range of issues.
Terrorism is the biggest threat to South Asia's stability, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit on Saturday."Terrorists and extremists don't know borders. We must act with determination to fight terrorism. We cannot lose the battle against ideologies of hatred," said Dr Singh.Terrorism is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion during the three-day summit, which started today in Colombo.
The Bush administration's point man for South Asia, Richard Boucher, has said that while Washington fully recognises the terrorist threat Sri Lanka continues to face from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, it should continue acting like a democracy and protect all of its citizens. The senior diplomat feels that there is a need for a political solution "alongside whatever is going on militarily and we hope the Tamil Tigers will see that as well."
Bangladesh will ask the Indian government to extradite Bangladeshi criminals hiding in India at the second annual South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meeting of home ministers to be held in New Delhi.
The 2016 SAARC Summit was originally planned to be held in Islamabad on November 15-19, 2016. But after a terror attack on an Indian Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir on September 18 that year, India expressed its inability to participate in the summit due to "prevailing circumstances". The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate in the Islamabad meet.
Strengthening of police cooperation will be high on agenda of the upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Home Ministers' conference during which India is expected to press for visible collaboration by member countries in the fight against terrorism.
The launch will be a major feat in country's space history as no exercise on this scale has been attempted before.
In a few minutes from now, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterparty Yousaf Raza Gilani will hold a one-on-one meeting in the neutral venue of Bhutan House in Thimphu. A lot of excitement is generated whenever the governments of India and Pakistan hold talks, a as a result of pre-summit exchanges of expectations, spins and charges.However, since the Parliament session is on in India and Pakistan is in the middle of far-reaching changes.
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.
Afghanistan would have to harness the economic opportunities for its people and provide gainful employment to its youth.
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