Discussions about SAARC University, SAARC Development Fund, SAARC Arbitration Council and South Asian Regional Standard Organization were the major agenda of the first day of the four-day Foreign Ministerial Meeting.
The participants of the joint-secretary level meeting discussed on the reports submitted by the governing bodies of these four organizations, according to Mani Bhattarai, joint-secretary at Foreign Ministry of Nepal. Further discussions on these agendas will continue on Tuesday.
Tuesday's meeting will conclude the discussions on the four organizations. However, nothing can be said about the discussions publicly till it concludes, according to Joint-Secretary Bhattarai.
SAARC University, founded in 2010, is located in New Delhi of India. A proposal of scholarship facility for students from SAARC member countries has been submitted for discussion. Likewise, establishment of SAARC Development Fund to provide assistance to the member nations for their development is on the cards. Similarly, proposed SAARC Arbitration Council aims to settle the disputes among its members. The fourth agenda of discussion - South Asian Regional Standard Organization - also aims to provide assistance to SAARC nations.
Following the joint-secretary level meetings on Monday and Tuesday, a secretary-level meeting will take place on Wednesday. Thursday will see the foreign minister-level meeting, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
Foreign ministers Kamal Thapa of Nepal, Sushma Swaraj of India, Dunya Maumoon of the Maldives, Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera of Sri Lanka, Abadul Ahsan Mohammad Ali of Bangladesh, Damcho Dorji of Bhutan, Deputy Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Hekmat Khalil Karzai and foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz at Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs will attend the foreign minister-level meeting.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tara Prasad Pokharel informed that the SAARC-level meeting will review the agenda of the last SAARC Summit held in Kathmandu, that had concluded with '36-point Kathmandu declaration'. SAFTA and trade facilitation, connectivity, combating terrorism, trans-national crimes and strengthening the SAARC processes were key issues among the 36-point Kathmandu Declaration 2014.
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