SAARC nations ink key energy pact; Summit ends with PM Modi-Pak PM handshake Nov 28 With the issuing of Kathamandu Declaration, the 18th SAARC Summit concludes at Kathamandu, this evening. Chairperson of the Summit and Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala declared the Summit closed. He announced that the19th SAARC Summit will be held at Islamabad in 2016. SAARC Framework Agreement on Energy (Electricity) Cooperation was signed among the SAARC member countries. This pact will enable SAARC member nations to trade electricity among themselves. As the theme of the Summit was ‘Deeper Integration for Peace and Prosperity’, the heads of government expressed their strong determination to deepen regional integration for peace, stability and prosperity in South Asia by intensifying cooperation in various areas including security. The leaders also unequivocally condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations in the 26 point Kathmandu Declaration. The declaration also underlined the need for effective cooperation among member states to combat terrorism and violent extremism. On the issue of if any country raised the matter of induction of China in SAARC, External Affairs Spokesperson, Syed Akbarudin said that there was no proposal of expansion of SAARC but to consider the Observers as dialogue patners. The programming committee is working on engaging them in development cooperation. Mr. Akbarudin has termed Prime Minister Modi’s first SAARC Summit as successful with a satisfied outcome. According to reports that the other agreement on road connectivity to be signed within three months by the concerned Ministers of the SAARC countries was confirmed by Mr. Akbarudin. Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other SAARC members held informal talks at the Retreat Session of 18th South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation Summit (SAARC) at picturesque Dhulikhel under foolproof security arrangements. Mr. Modi planted sapling of banyan tree at the venue. As per reports, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hassina could not attend the Retreat due to ill health. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif exchanged pleasantries during the informal retreat of SAARC leaders in Dhulikhel . Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif exchanged pleasantries during the informal retreat of SAARC leaders in Dhulikhel. They both shook hands amid applause by the delegates at the end of the Summit. Prime Minister Modi also fulfilled desire among the people of Nepal to see and meet him by getting down from his cavalcade to shake hands with the onlookers in a city market.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 01:35:28 +0000
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