KATHMANDU, April 10: The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, has shown willingness to strengthen cooperation with SAARC.

KATHMANDU, March 19: Lawmakers have emphasized that both the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are crucial for the development of the region. In Monday's House of Representatives meeting, they suggested that neither organization should overshadow the other.

KATHMANDU, Jan 10: The newly-appointed Secretary-General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Md Golam Sarwar, paid a courtesy call on President Ram Chandra Paudel at the Rastrapati Bhawan, Sheetal Niwas, on Wednesday.

KATHMANDU, Dec 9: The Heads of State/Government of the Member States of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) issued special messages to commemorate the Thirty-ninth SAARC Charter Day on Friday. The Foreign Ministers of Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka also issued dedicatory messages in commemoration of the thirty-ninth SAARC Charter Day.

KATHMANDU, July 13: South Asia that covers only 3% of the world's landmass accommodates approximately 24% of the global population; the region faces the highest population density worldwide.

KATHMANDU, July 4 - The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) along with Welthungerhilfe (WHH) is pleased to announce the hosting of a Regional Consultation Meeting focused on "Promoting Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture for Improving Nutrition Security and Health of Smallholders in South Asia." This significant event will convene key stakeholders to collectively address the pressing issues of nutrition and health in the region, with a specific emphasis on smallholder farmers.

KATHMANDU, Feb 24: Policymakers, experts, academics, and think tanks from South Asia came together at the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Secretariat in Kathmandu on Friday to discuss protecting children and families from the extensive precarity brought on by climate disasters, economic shocks and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

KATHMANDU, Feb 1: Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Bimala Rai Paudyal has announced to finalize the draft of foreign policy prepared two years ago after holding consultations with the relevant stakeholders.

The Himalayan nation of Nepal and the Indian Ocean Island nation of Sri Lanka have a progressive multi-pronged agenda which facilitates member SAARC and BIMSTEC states to better target their collaboration with other regional economies.

KATHMANDU, Jan 8: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that efforts are on to activate the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

KATHMANDU, April 3: India has paved the way for electricity trade from Nepal, rising above the framework of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the declaration of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC).

KATHMANDU, August 21: A civil society group in Nepal has appealed to the Government of Nepal (GoN) to summon an emergency meeting of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in its capacity as the chair of the regional body. They have urged the government to hold discussions on the safety of the Afghan people and ways to address the possible Afghan refugee crisis in the emergency meeting of the SAARC.

KATHMANDU, Feb 17: India is hosting a health secretary-level meeting virtually with member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on Thursday to discuss the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Indian media reports said on Wednesday.

KATHMANDU, Jan 17: Nepal on Sunday reported the recovery of 400 COVID-19 patients taking the total number of recoveries in the country to 261,444. This accounts for 97.8 percent of the total confirmed cases --- 267,322--- since the first case was detected last year on January 23.

594 people recovered from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours

KATHMANDU, Dec 10: Pakistan has said that it appreciates Nepal's constructive role in taking the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) process forward as the present chair of the eight-member regional organization.

KATHMANDU, Oct 9: The education ministers from all member states of SAARC have convened virtually to share their respective experiences on COVID-19 effects on education in the SAARC region.

KATHMANDU, Sept 25: Nepal, the present chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), has urged all SAARC member states to explore all viable options to hold the 19th SAARC Summit at an early date so as to generate a new momentum and dynamism in the regional body.

COVID-19 recovery tally goes past 50,000

KATHMANDU, Aug 28: Nepal will host a virtual meeting of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Council of Ministers in the third week of September on the sidelines of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

KATHMANDU, April 29: The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Development Fund has entered into the tenth year of its inception.

KATHMANDU, April 13: The SAARC member states that contributed to the COVID-19 Emergency Fund of the regional block have reached an understanding to mobilize the amount to supply medicines, medical equipment and other logistics available in their respective countries if any of the member states makes request for these medical supplies.

KATHMANDU, March 27: Health professionals of all SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) member states held a video conference on Thursday to carry forward collaboration in the common fight against COVID-19 at the practical level as announced during the Video Conference of SAARC Leaders on March 15.

KATHMANDU, March 26: The health officials of the eight SAARC member nations held a video conference in a bid to contain the novel coronavirus in South Asia.

KATHMANDU, March 22: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has welcomed the decision of Nepal to allocate Rs 100 million for the COVID-19 Emergency Fund of SAARC to jointly fight against the coronavirus pandemic in the region.

Leaders from South Asia came together on Sunday with a resolve to wage a collective fight against the coronavirus that has now become a global pandemic. In the first-ever video conference between the leaders of eight SAARC countries, they agreed to initiate joint efforts to contain the spread of the deadly COVID-19 by setting up a regional mechanism.

KATHMANDU, March 15: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has proposed to setup a COVID-19 Emergency Fund to combat deadly virus in South Asia.

KATHMANDU, March 15: A video conference among the leaders of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on tackling the coronavirus outbreak has taken place today evening.

KATHMANDU, March 15: Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, despite recuperating from kidney transplant surgery, is taking part in a meeting of SAARC leaders via video conferencing on Sunday.

KATHMANDU, March 14: Video conference among the leadership of SAARC countries on tackling coronavirus outbreak in the region proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, will be taking place at 5 pm on Sunday (tomorrow), Delhi-based WION reported referring to unofficial sources at the Ministry of External Affairs of India.

KATHMANDU, March 14: Pakistan has said that it is ready to join Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's idea to hold a video conference among SAARC countries in the ongoing battle against coronavirus.

KATHMANDU, March 14: The South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) – a regional body of eight South Asian nations – is virtually put at a standstill. It has not been able to host its regular summit meetings since Nepal hosted the 18th Summit in Kathmandu in 2014. All SAARC meetings have become irregular and no substantive decisions on issues related to regional cooperation have been taken at SAARC forums since a long time.

KATHMANDU, March 13: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted today, urging the leaders of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to chalk out a strategy against coronavirus pandemic, many have expressed hope that eight-member regional block might breathe a new life.

KATHMANDU, March 13: Leaders of Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bhutan have welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposal to chalk out joint strategy against coronavirus.

KATHMANDU, March 13: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged the leadership of SAARC nations to chalk out a strong strategy to fight coronavirus.

KATHMANDU, March 6: Applications are invited from individuals and institutions working in the field of fundamental education and literacy in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states for this year’s Rotary SAARC Gopal-Kamala Rajbhandari Humanity Award.  The Award instituted by Gopal-Kamala Rajbhandari Family — a renowned business group in Nepal — carries a purse of USD 15,000.

KATHMANDU, March 3: Esala Ruwan Weerakoon, the newly appointed secretary general of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), has assumed office.

KATHMANDU, Dec 8: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday issued their statements on the occasion of 35th SAARC Charter Day that falls on December 8.

KATHMANDU, Dec 7: Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, has lauded Japan for supporting Nepal in its reconstruction process by providing financial and technical assistance.

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KATHMANDU, Nov 19: Newly-elected President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa has pledged to foster peaceful co-existence and economic progress within the SAARC region.

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NEW YORK, Sept 28: Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Gyawali has called for strong regional economic cooperation through the SAARC, BIMSTEC and Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) among other regional platforms during his address to the 74th United Nations General Assembly being held in New York.

NEW YORK, Sept 27:  Foreign Ministers from India and Pakistan boycotted each other’s address to a meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on Thursday on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly in New York.

NEW YORK, Sept 26: Nepal is set to convene a SAARC ministerial meeting in New York on Thursday. The meeting is widely expected to pave the way for an icebreaker dialogue between India and Pakistan, whose relations are in the lowest ebb in the aftermath of recent border skirmishes and Indian clampdown on Kashmir.

KATHMANDU, Sept 14: SAARC Cultural Center organized SAARC Handicraft and Exhibition and Workshop at Patan Durbar Square, from September 9 to 12.

KATHMANDU, Aug 24: Pakistan has asked Nepal to play its role as the chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for peace and stability in the region amid its renewed tension with India after New Delhi altered the status of Jammu and Kashmir.

KATHMANDU, Aug 3: As Nepal in its capacity as the current chair of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) wishes to see its summit meeting being held at the earliest, a senior leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India has ruled out the possibility of holding the summit of the regional body.

KATHMANDU, June 24: Foreign Minister Pradip Kumar Gyawali has said that a policy has been adopted to include economic diplomacy in the center point of the overall diplomacy of the country.

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