22 Sept, New York:
Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat has spoken of the need to make SAARC more effective and relevant.
Minister Mahat pressed for the same while addressing the informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the SAARC member-nation held in New York on Wednesday.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in the United Nations Headquarters.
Stressing on making a common stand among the SAARC member-nation on issues relating to poverty, unemployment, climate change as well as matters of mutual interests, Minister Mahat also underscored the effective implementation of the decisions made in the 37th SAARC Foreign Ministerial meeting held in Nepal in March.
Similarly, the meeting chaired by Foreign Minister Mahat also discussed preparations in regard to the upcoming 19th SAARC summit to be held in Pakistan in 2016.
Talking to RSS following the meeting, Minister Mahat, who is leading the Nepali delegation to the UNGA, said they dwelt on the issues prevailing in the SAARC member-nations and measures to adopt to resolve them.
Similarly, SAARC General-Secretary Arjun Bahadur Thapa shared that the meeting reviewed the progress made in the SAARC member-nations as well as deliberated the common course of action to be adopted by the three decade old regional body.
Also, centrally discussed issues in the meeting include expansion of trade service, road connectivity, railway connectivity and communications network in among the South Asian countries.
Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Foreign Affairs, apprised the meeting about the preparations in connection to the upcoming SAARC summit. RSS
