SL President to attend Dhaka SAARC summit

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 November 2005, 15:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge will lead the Sri Lanka delegation to the forthcoming thirteenth South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Summit at Dhaka, Bangladesh, scheduled for 12-13 November 2005. The delegation includes Mr.Anura Bandaranaike, Foreign Minister and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Commerce and the Presidential Secretariat, said a press release issued Monday in Colombo.

The release further said:

The seven member states at the 13th SAARC Summit are expected to focus on regional co-operation on poverty alleviation, economic matters, especially SAFTA, terrorism, environmental challenges, natural disasters, a South Asian Development Fund and a vision for the SAARC in the third decade. New challenges such as the threat of bird flu may also receive attention.

Given the priority attached to economic co-operation, leaders at the Summit are expected to sign agreements related to customs co-operation, promotion and protection of investments, avoidance of double taxation and the establishment of SAARC Arbitration Council. These agreements will facilitate the smooth implementation of the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area) agreement.

Pakistan, the present Chair of the SAARC will hand over the Chairmanship to Bangladesh at the 13th Summit, the press release of the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry concludes.