SAARC standing committee meeting continues

Kathmandu, Nov 24:  A meeting of the 41^st session of the Standing Committee of the SAARC continues today, in the lead up to the 18^th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit that Nepal is hosting on 26 and 27 November.

            Delegations led by Foreign Secretaries of all the eight member states of SAARC are taking part in the meeting that is taking place at Hotel Soaltee in the capital since this morning that began Sunday.

            The two-day meeting is ratifying the agenda endorsed by the Programming Committee of the Joint-Secretary level.

 Similarly, the meeting has entered discussions on the report presented by the standing committee meeting no 46, 47, 48, and 49. 

The meeting has held discussions on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and South Asian Trade in Services (SATIS).

Similarly, the meeting is expected to take concrete decisions on issues as SAARC Development Fund, Poverty Alleviation, Information and Communications and Transportation connectivity. 

The meeting started after Foreign Secretary and the Head of Delegation of Maldives, Ali Naseer Mohamad, handed over the Chair of the Standing Committee to Acting Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi. The meeting was attended by all the member countries of SAARC.

           

            The meeting of the SAARC Standing Committee is scheduled to present its report to the meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers meeting taking place on Tuesday. RSS