SAARC member states decide to host 19th SAARC Summit later this year
Xinhua, March 17, 2016 Adjust font size:
Members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on Thursday decided to host the 19th SAARC Summit in Pakistan on Nov.9 and 10 this year.
The 37th session of the SAARC Council of Ministers organized in Pokhara of Nepal finalized the date of the 19th SAARC Summit.
"SAARC member states agreed the proposal of Pakistan to hold the 19th SAARC Summit on Nov. 9-10 in Pakistan," Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa, who is also in-charge of foreign affairs, told media after the meeting.
The SAARC member state - Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - agreed the proposal of Pakistan to host the 38th session of the SAARC Council of Ministers meeting in Pakistan on Nov.8 this year, according to Thapa.
"The meeting decided to host the SAARC Summits in November in every two years," Thapa said.
The regional body's 18th SAARC Summit was held in Nepal in November 2014. The SAARC Council of Ministers meeting has also decided to recommend the upcoming SAARC Summit to locate the SAARC Disaster Management Center in New Delhi.
The meeting also decided to merge the SAARC Environment Center with the existing SAARC Energy Center located in the Pakistani Capital Islamabad. Endit