BNP chairman Tarique Rahman called for maintaining law and order and sought cooperation in building a safe and humane Bangladesh after his party's victory in parliamentary elections.
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.
Postponed several times due to a variety of reasons, the much-delayed but the biggest South Asian Games ever begin, in Guwahati, on Friday, with hosts India expected to stamp their superiority in the regional spectacle.
Although Afghanistan will be formally inducted as the eighth member of SAARC on Tuesday, Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Rangin Dadfar Spanta also attended the meet.
"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.
At the 14th summit, India will become the chairman of the regional grouping for a year, taking over from Bangladesh.
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
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the announcement at the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit that began in Thimphu with an apt theme -- Towards a Green and Happy South Asia.
India and Bangladesh have recently agreed to provide consular access to arrested insurgents and criminals on reciprocal basis, besides sharing information about their actvities.
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.
Climate change is the official agenda for the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit beginning on Wednesday, but the real focus will be on 'temperature' in Indo-Pak relations, which have always overshadowed such meetings.
With this year's summit, the seven-member grouping founded in Dhaka in 1985 steps into its third decade.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will reach Maldives on November 9 to attend the 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit to be held on November 10 and 11, in the scenic Addu island.
The summit will be held in the picturesque city of Kandy, with Colombo planning 'foolproof' security arrangements to ward off any attack from the LTTE as it battles the rebel forces in the north.
The satellite will enable a full range of services to neighbours including the areas of telecommunication, television, direct-to-home, VSATs, tele-education and tele-medicine.
The reach of China in other South Asian states has been extraordinary. India's protectionist tendencies have allowed China to don the mantle of regional economic leader. The sooner Indian policy makers realise this and take steps to redress this the better, writes Harsh V Pant
Nepal said it 'has received communications' from four member-states -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and India -- in which they conveyed their inability to participate in the 19th SAARC summit.
The first of its kind in the country, the hub -- termed SACAC (South Asian Centre for Arts and Culture) -- will come up in what was once the home of Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In reality SAARC is largely a name board with annual rituals, not always regularly observed.
India on Wednesday said some of the arrangements discussed in advance for providing protection to the top leaders did not get implemented.
As ever, this is the major factor holding Saarc back and neither of the two countries seems to have an initiative.
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.
Dhaka is not in favour of full membership to Afghanistan and instead supports observer status to it, informed sources said.
Koirala is currently busy in hectic consultations with his party colleagues as well as top leaders of the major political parties to form a new Interim government inclusive of the Maoists.
SAARC countries are facing common challenges and they should cooperate with each other to address them, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, underlining that India is committed to reviving the grouping as a major forum to promote active regional collaboration.
Nepal said it would take necessary initiatives and hold discussions with member-states to press for holding the 19th SAARC Summit.
'Victims of terrorism do not sit together with its perpetrators to discuss terrorism.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that developing close relations with India's neighbours is a key priority of his government, ahead of his planned visit to Kathmandu on Tuesday afternoon to attend the 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Summit.
"Sri Lanka regrets that the prevailing environment in the region is not conducive for holding the 19th SAARC Summit in Islamabad," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The South Asian nations could script a new history of cooperation and prosperity that could serve as an example for other nations, notes Dr Rahul Mishra.
Modi attended the 20th ASEAN-India Summit in Jakarta. Secretary-General of ASEAN Dr Kao Kim Hourn also attended the summit.
An Indian high commission diplomat was denied permission to travel to Lahore to set up the mission's stall at the ongoing South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Trade Fair where all the other SAARC nations have their representation.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation has "survived" but not "triumphed" as had been envisaged, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday said while lamenting the postponement of the eight-member grouping's Islamabad summit.
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