DHAKA, Oct 16: Bangladesh has accelerated the pre-Saarc summit preparations following Pakistan’s re-confirmation of participation in the event scheduled for November 12 and 13.
The country’s foreign affairs adviser as well as chief coordinator of the ensuing Saarc summit, Reaz Rahman, said this at a press conference here on Sunday.
“Pakistan has reconfirmed its participation in the summit on the scheduled dates, clarifying that they are committed to attending the meeting despite the Oct 8 killer earthquake,” Reaz Rahman said. “We are working at full swing to successfully hold the summit.”
Islamabad, however, deferred a meeting of the commerce ministers of member states in the wake of the tragic earthquake that claimed over 40,000 lives in Pakistan.
The commerce ministers’ meeting was scheduled to be held in Islamabad on Oct 21-22 to discuss mainly the implementation of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA). Another meeting of the Committee of Experts on SAFTA scheduled for Oct 18-22 was also postponed.
The Pakistan foreign ministry said new dates for the meetings would be announced after consulting the other Saarc countries: India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Replying to a question, Reaz said four agreements for promoting trade and investment among the Saarc countries were expected to be signed during the summit.
He said the two-day summit will end up with the Dhaka Declaration, seeking cooperation in seven critical areas like poverty alleviation, economic cooperation, social charter, disaster management, terrorism and strengthening the Saarc secretariat.
“The timing of this summit is very important. This is the beginning of the 3rd decade of Saarc,” the adviser said, adding that the Dhaka summit would focus on South Asian orientation and implementation of decisions taken by the previous summits.
Security teams from India and the Maldives are expected to come here on Monday (today) to check the security arrangements at all the venues where South Asian leaders will meet.
Other Saarc member states will carry out security check-ups with the help of their own security staff stationed in their respective missions in Dhaka, official sources said.
Replying to a question, Mr Reaz said security was a big factor that called for reorganizing some of the programmes like the retreat for spouses of Saarc leaders, and added that six sub-committees had been working to arrange blanket security during the summit.
