Following the decision, suggestion to make SAARC activities result orientated have been forwarded to the 37th Foreign Ministerial-level meeting of the SAARC nations to be held on Thursday.Thursday is the last day of four-day long Foreign Ministerial Meeting of SAARC members, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. A secretary-level meeting took place on Wednesday following the joint-secretary level meetings on Monday and Tuesday.
The meeting of the SAARC standing committee decided to prioritize the past agendas, which are yet to be implemented in a full-fledged way, according to Shankar Das Bairagi, secretary at the Foreign Ministry.
"SAARC members discussed on different agendas for so long, but they were not implemented in an effective manner. Against the backdrop, SAARC nations concluded to make its activities result oriented," he said.
Foreign secretary Bairagi, one of the participants at the foreign secretary-level meeting held on Wednesday, informed that they have decided to concentrate on the implementation of those agendas raised since long time.
Another suggestion that foreign secretary-level meeting decided was to convene the SAARC meetings in stipulated date.
"Although the SAARC Summit takes place once in every two years, today's meeting proposed to convene the event in the month of November from now onward," he said.
Till date, SAARC has organized 18 summits in its three-decade long history but they were never fixed before. But November will be fixed for the upcoming summit.
Pakistan will host the upcoming SAARC meeting to be held in November, according to foreign secretary Bairagi.
SAARC foreign Ministers arrive in Pokhara
Foreign ministers from all the eight South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries arrived on Wednesday to attend the 37th SAARC Foreign Ministerial meeting.
Indian Minister for External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj arrived in Pokhara from Gorakhpur, India on a helicopter, while foreign ministers and foreign ministry representatives of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives and Afghanistan reached Pokhara on a Nepal Army aircraft.
Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa received them at the Pokhara airport.
Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who also reached Pokhara, is said to host a dinner reception in honor of the foreign delegates and will inaugurate Thursday's foreign minister-level meeting.
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