Afghanistan could join SAARC as a new member: Saran
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries are discussing taking on board Afghanistan in the seven-member regional grouping, a newspaper report said.
“We have been talking to each other about the possibility of Afghanistan joining as a new member,” Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, told reporters in New Delhi on Monday upon his return from the US.
According to Indian Express—a leading Indian newspaper, Saran said that the issue figured during the meeting of SAARC foreign ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. All the ministers agreed that SAARC meet in Dhaka in November would be a “landmark” and that the summit should have a substantive agenda.
“Our effort should be to move SAARC from a stage of declaratory statements to a stage of actually doing some collaborative work,” he said.
The ministers also exchanged views on setting up a poverty alleviation fund and on specific proposals dealing with disaster management in the light of tsunami that affected several SAARC nations.
Established in 1985 to promote intra-regional cooperation, SAARC members include Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. nepalnews.com by Sep 27 05
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