Quest for roadmap to face series of challenges

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka, right, welcomes Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed to Colombo yesterday as the latter reached Lankan capital to attend the 15th Saarc Summit.Photo: PID

South Asian leaders sit for a summit meeting here today to chart a roadmap to address the challenges of soaring food and fuel prices, trade imbalances and climate change, and improve the socioeconomic condition of 1.5 billion people in the region.
Amidst extraordinary security measures, heads of state and government arrived in the Sri Lankan capital to attend the 15th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Bangladesh caretaker government's Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, Bhutanese Prime Minister Lyonchen Jigmi Thinlay, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and host Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse will join the two-day summit at Bandarnaike Memorial International Conference Hall.
The South Asian leaders will sign a Saarc Development Fund (SDF) charter with authorised capital of SDR one billion dollars and launch the South Asian Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO), headquarters of which will be established in Dhaka.
The summit leaders will sign the Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters to effectively deal with terrorists and criminals hiding in other Saarc countries.
At the inaugural session, the summit leaders will also focus on removal of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers to reduce trade imbalances in some member states and increase Intra-Saarc trade.
They will also instruct the Saarc ministerial council comprising the commerce ministers of the member nations to start negotiation on trade in services under the umbrella agreement of Safta.
The summit will stressed the need for making Saarc Food Bank operational immediately, increase food production and for collective efforts to produce alternative sources of energy, so vital for overall development in the region.
“The recent price hike of food globally has reminded us of urgent need to address the situation comprehensively. The food crisis has affected the poorest segment of the society. Food security will constitute an important area of our collective endeavours,” Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhruy told UNB ahead of the summit.
He said that Saarc Food Bank need to be made operational immediately to give a human face to the organisation's work. “We need another Green Revolution based on technology and innovative techniques.”
Apart from food, fuel and trade issues, critical issue of climate change, water resources, transport, social issues, terrorism, women empowerment and cooperation in science and technology will dominate the summit talks.
At the inaugural session today, Saarc chairmanship will be handed over to Sri Lanka from India. Eight Saar leaders will then make their country statements.
On the second day, Saarc leaders will go for retreat when they will seize the opportunity to discuss more on burning issues that hit the region hard.
The 15th summit will conclude through the issuance of the Colombo Declaration and statement on food security.
Meanwhile, capital Colombo has been tastefully decorated with portraits of eight Saarc leaders and flags of the member states.
Thousands of army, commandos and special police equipped with automatic weapons spread over the entire city. Sandbag bunkers have been set up in close proximity. People's movement has been heavily restricted.