Secretary-General of SAARC calls on Foreign Minister of Nepal

H. E. Mr. Arjun B. Thapa, Secretary-General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) paid a courtesy call on H. E. Mr. Mahendra Bahadur Pandey, Minister of Foreign Affairs at the latter’s office today.

During the meeting, H. E. the Secretary-General felicitated the Hon. Foreign Minister on his recent appointment. He expressed the hope that under the able guidance of the Hon. Foreign Minister, Nepal will continue to support the process of regional cooperation under the framework of SAARC. He further hoped that the Government of Nepal will extend its fullest cooperation to the SAARC Secretariat as its benign host.
 

The Hon. Foreign Minister and H. E. the Secretary-General exchanged views on a number of issues relating to SAARC and its agenda of cooperation, with a particular reference to the decisions of the inter-Summit Session of the SAARC Council of Ministers that concluded in the Maldives last month. Matters pertaining to the strengthening of SAARC Mechanisms, including the SAARC Secretariat and Regional Centres figured prominently during the discussions.

The Hon. Foreign Minister and H. E. the Secretary-General also discussed several issues with regard to the preparatory work in connection with the Eighteenth SAARC Summit.

During the recently concluded inter-Summit Session of the SAARC Council of Ministers, Nepal offered to host the Eighteenth Summit in Nepal in November 2014.  
Mr. Dhan Bahadur Oli, Director, was also present at the meeting.