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Thimphu Summit will open new areas of economic cooperation in SAARC: Krishna | Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Monday expressed confidence that the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit would open new areas of economic cooperation among member countries. In a statement made soon after
his arrival at Thimphu, Krishna said the summit would give member countries an
opportunity to introspect on the past and chart a course for the future. "An Agreement
on Trade in Services will also be signed during the Summit , thereby opening up
new vistas of economic cooperation among SAARC countries," Krishna said. Bhutan
has chosen 'Climate Change' as the theme of the summit. He said as the Thimphu
Silver Jubilee Declaration has been entitled 'Towards a Green and Happy South
Asia,' foreign ministers of all member countries are likely to sign a charter
on environment co-operation, "The theme is expected to be reinforced by the signing
of a SAARC Convention on Cooperation in Environment by the Foreign Ministers in
the presence of the Heads of State and Governments of SAARC Member States," Krishna
said. He said that over the years, the SAARC has made visible strides and achieved
many milestones. "It has created the institutional and legal framework for regional
cooperation through agreements and programmes covering almost every area of importance
to the region, ranging from poverty alleviation and food security to terrorism
and women's empowerment," Krishna said. "Its focus on grassroots development is
designed to cater to the welfare of the people of South Asia and to bring about
an improvement "in their quality of life," he added. Krishna said that with the
depth of challenges facing the region, the transformation of SAARC within a quarter
of a century to a dynamic vehicle of regional economic cooperation is indeed remarkable.
"The asymmetric and non-reciprocal participation by India has been an important
factor in this process. This has inspired other SAARC member countries to take
similar initiative on regional projects," Krishna said. In his address, Krishna
described the SAARC as a vehicle for regional development, and said the SAARC
member countries have committed themselves to strengthening regional economic
cooperation through the SAARC, particularly over the three years since the New
Delhi Summit in April 2007. "It is to the credit of the SAARC, that despite the
global financial recession, trade under the SAFTA since its implementation in
2006 amounted to USD 689 million," Krishna said. "Moreover, the basket of tradable
items is also quite diverse from manufacturing to agriculture products. All Member
States have also reiterated their resolve to facilitate greater trade liberalization
measures and greater tariff reductions," he added. |
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