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SAARC Summit in Sri Lanka
By KTM Metro Reporter in Kathmandu
After apologizing to the leaders of the three major parties such as CPN-Maoist, CPN-UML and MPRF for not communicating with them for taking the decision on participating in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit to be held on August 2 and 3 in Sri Lanka, caretaker Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala with his daughter Minister without portfolio Sujata Koirala among other a large number of members flew to Sri Lanka on July 31, 2008. Finance Minister Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat with his spouse flew to Sri Lanka one day ahead of the Prime Minister, as he needed to attend the ministerial level meetings before the summit meeting. The total number of the Nepalese team attending SAARC summit reached 35 according to the Nepalese media. None could justify for such a large number of people going to Sri Lanka for attending the summit that results in anything tangible.
SAARC has been the meeting point of dignitaries of the South Asian countries. They speak, talk and discuss many things but nothing happens in the end. They enjoy sightseeing, lavish dinner and high-level luxury for several days at the cost of poor in those countries.
This year they are going to talk about the terrorism prevailing in all those south Asian countries among other topics such as SAARC Development Fund and South Asian regional standards organization. Recently, India has seen a number of bombs went off in Bangalore and Ahemadabad killing a number of innocent people. It might be the most appropriate subject matter to deal with seriously. However, it is doubtful that the summit would end with any tangible results.
SAARC is an eight-member regional association of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sir Lanka with a number of other countries having observers’ status. It was set up in 1985. They hold a SAARC summit in rotation every two years.
