Kathmandu, June 6: Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Md. Golam Sarwar, paid a courtesy call on Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Islamabad on May 21.
During the meeting, Ambassador Sarwar briefed the PM on the recent progress on activities of SAARC and emphasized the need for sincere efforts from all Member States in reinvigorating the SAARC process.
The Pakistani PM, while elucidating the wide-ranging benefits of regional cooperation for the people of South Asia, expressed Pakistan’s firm commitment to strengthening SAARC and assured full support to the Secretary-General to carry the SAARC process forward. He also reiterated Pakistan’s desire to host the 19th SAARC Summit at the earliest. The Secretary-General was on an introductory visit to Pakistan from 20-25 May 20 to 25.
As part of his ongoing tour of the SAARC Member States, the Secretary-General earlier visited India from May 11 to 14. He had fruitful discussions, about the ongoing activities of SAARC and its way forward, with the State Minister for External Affairs of India Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, the Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Secretary (East) Ambassador Jaideep Mazumder and other senior officials of the External Affairs Ministry. Indian leadership and high dignitaries reiterated India’s full commitment to the SAARC process and assured full support to the Secretary-General for his endeavour to revitalize SAARC. During his visit to India, the Secretary-General addressed the 3rd Shakti Sinha Memorial Lecture on the future of SAARC hosted by the leading think tank The India Foundation and had interactive discussions with the faculty members of Research and Information System (RIS).
During the visit to Pakistan, the Secretary-General also had fruitful discussions with the Foreign Secretary Ambassador Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Kazi and other senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They discussed the current activities of SAARC and exchanged ideas and thoughts on the future endeavours in the revitalization of SAARC to materialize its full potential for the benefit of the region. The Secretary-General also delivered a lecture at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) on the Prospects and Challenges of Regional Cooperation in South Asia and joined in a panel discussion at the Institute of Research and Studies (IRS) on the Revitalization of SAARC.
The SAARC Secretariat has been working relentlessly with the SAARC Chair, Nepal to strengthen the process in attaining the objectives of the Organization as spelled out in its Charter.
People’s News Monitoring Service.
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