President leads delegation to 13th SAARC Summit

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga will lead the Sri Lanka delegation to the forthcoming Thirteenth South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The delegation includes Foreign Minister Anura Bandaranaike and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Commerce and the Presidential Secretariat, states a Foreign Ministry press release.

The seven Member States at the 13th SAARC Summit are expected to focus on regional cooperation on poverty alleviation, economic matters, especially SAFTA, terrorism, environmental challenges, natural disasters, a South Asian Development Fund and a vision for SAARC in the third decade.

New challenges such as the threat of bird flu may also receive attention.

Given the priority attached to economic cooperation, leaders at the Summit are expected to sign agreements related to customs cooperation, promotion and protection of investments, avoidance of double taxation and the establishment of a SAARC Arbitration Council.

These agreements will facilitate the smooth implementation of the SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area) Agreement.

Pakistan, the present Chair of SAARC will hand over the Chairmanship to Bangladesh at the 13th Summit, scheduled for November 12 to 13.