Pakistani PM To Attend Regional Summit in Maldives

Islamabad, Nov 8, IRNA – Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani will lead Pakistani delegation to regional summit in Maldives from November 10th to 11th, Foreign Ministry said Monday. Heads of States or Governments of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka would be attending the Summit. Representatives from the Observer States will also be participating in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit. The 17th Summit will be preceded by the Council of Foreign Ministers and meeting of the Standing Committee. The Summit will adopt a Declaration titled “Building Bridges”, which will focus on issues ranging from physical connectivity in the region to trade, economic, financial and environmental cooperation. In addition, the Secretariat of SAARC Development Fund would also be inaugurated at the Summit. Bilateral Meetings of the Prime Minister with his counterparts of SAARC countries have been scheduled in this regard. Similarly Pakistan favours SAARC linkages with Observers and international institutions. The Prime Minister will also hold bilateral meetings with the representatives of some observer states. During the Summit, Prime Minister is expected to highlight important issues like matters relating to poverty alleviation, energy cooperation, interaction in agriculture and rural development, cooperation on promotion of welfare of women and children and development of better health facilities for the peoples of South Asia in his key address. “Pakistan attaches great importance to SAARC and has played a proactive role to make SAARC a model of regional cooperation by building economic synergies among the member states,” a Foreign Ministry statement said. At Pakistan’s initiative, Colombo Statement on Food Security was adopted during the 15th SAARC Summit in 2008 and Prime Minister will urge upon the Heads of State or Government to ensure region-wide food security and make South Asia, once again, the granary of the world. Pakistan is of the view that energy cooperation is a driver for cooperation in SAARC leading to economic growth and durable peace in the region. Pakistan introduced the concept of Energy Ring in South Asia which became the vision of SAARC leaders for the attainment of Energy Security. While lending unconditional support to regional initiatives, Pakistan hopes to further consolidate its bilateral relations with SAARC member countries./end