SAARC ministers ink deal:

Rapid response to natural disasters

Ministers sign three other agreements:

Foreign ministers of SAARC countries yesterday signed an agreement on rapid response to natural disasters in the presence of Heads of Governments in South Asia in Addu City, the Maldives yesterday.

Enhancing closer ties between regional countries, the Heads of State Meeting of the 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation concluded in Addu city, the Maldives with the signing of another three agreements.

The Foreign Ministers of the regional countries signed these agreements in the presence of all Heads of Governments in South Asia. The other three agreements are SAARC Agreement on Multilateral Arrangement on Recognition of Conformity Assessment, SAARC Agreement on Implementation of Regional Standards and SAARC Seed Bank Agreement.

President Mahinda Rajapaska who arrived at the closing ceremony of the 17th SAARC summit, was received by his Maldivian counterpart Mohammed Nasheed. President Rajapaksa, accompanied by President Nasheed inspected the Hithadoo Convention Centre where the summit was held.

The officials of the observer states, namely, United States, Australia, China, European Commission, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar and Mauritius expressed their views at the closing ceremony.

The next SAARC summit is to be held in Kathmandu, Nepal next year.