Major focus on regional connectivity
Three presidents and five prime ministers will attend the upcoming summit meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in the Indian Ocean nation of Maldives.
The 17th Saarc summit to be held in Addu Atoll of the island nation on November 10-11 will focus on improving both physical and political connectivity among the eight member nations, diplomatic sources said yesterday.
Host Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed will be joined by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigme Yoser Thinley and Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai.
The Maldives, a nation of over 3,14,000 people in an area of 298 square kilometers, is hosting the summit for the third time, having hosted the 5th summit in 1990 and the ninth in 1997.
This year's summit theme, Building Bridges, has been chosen by the host country.
The Saarc nations need to build bridges both in terms of physical connectivity and figurative political dialogue, according to Maldivian foreign ministry.
It said, “The notion of bridging differences would be represented as the overarching theme of the summit rather than any set diplomatic or development aims.”
Senior diplomats from the USA, China, South Korea, Japan and Iran will participate in the summit as observers, officials said.
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