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ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Morshed Khan called on President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here on Thursday to extend invitation to Pakistan to attend the 13th Saarc summit to be held in Dhaka in January 2005.
During his meeting with President Musharraf, the Bangladeshi foreign minister sought Pakistan's support for making the summit a success. The president assured him that Pakistan would extend full support and assistance to the 13th Saarc summit.
The Bangladeshi foreign minister expressed his appreciation for the efforts made by Pakistan as current chairman of Saarc to rejuvenate the organization. The president said Pakistan, with the help of other member states, would continue to step up endeavours to make the grouping an active, efficient and effective forum.
President Musharraf said Pakistan also attached highest importance to its relations with Bangladesh and would continue to strengthen bilateral relations in all spheres. Prime Minister Aziz, in his meeting with Morshed Khan, said that Saarc had a great future as a regional organization.
He said in the third decade of its existence, member states of Saarc should make a transition from standard setting to concrete measures and their practical implementation. -APP
OUR REPORTER ADDS: He said that during his recent visit to Saarc countries, he urged all member states to redouble their efforts for making Saarc an effective, dynamic and vibrant organization with a view to accelerating the pace of socio-economic development in the region.
Mr Aziz said that his visit to Saarc states was highly successful and fruitful. "We must follow up the decisions taken during the Saarc meetings," he added. He suggested that Saarc should interact with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to boost development activities in the member states. "SAARC should hire the services of economic experts. The ADB could be requested to provide the services of experts to Saarc," he observed.
He said the Saarc secretariat should also have experts advising on areas of cooperation. The premier also suggested restructuring of Saarc secretariat, saying that it should have its permanent staff and the Secretary General should be of minister's level.
