Lankan President to attend SAARC silver jubilee

A delegation led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to attend the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit to be held in Bhutan on April 28 and 29.

2010 marks 25 years of the SAARC and the summit will be held in Thimphu, the capital city of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

President Rajapaksa holds the current Chairmanship of SAARC, which held its 15th Summit in Colombo in August 2008. SAARC is celebrating its silver jubilee this year, having held its first Summitin Dhaka in December 1985.

Heads of State and Government of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan,Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Maldivesand Nepalwill also attend the two-day meeting.

The summit is expected to culminate in a joint declaration entitled “Towards a Green and Happy South Asia” and will see the signing of pacts on environment and trade in services. A separate Ministerial Declaration on Climate Change will also be issued.

The SAARC countries will sign a convention on environment to boost the exchange of best practices and knowledge, capacity building and transfer of eco-friendly technology in areas such as climate change, coastal zone management, wildlife conservation and environmental impact assessment studies.

The eight countries will also sign an agreement on trade in services that is expected to accelerate regional collaboration in diverse areas like health, hospitality, communications, computer and information services and air transport.

Australiaand Myanmar will join the eight-nation bloc as observers at the 16th SAARC summit in Bhutan and with their participation the number of observers at the summit reaches up to nine.