H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary-General of SAARC, received H. E. Mr. Masashi Ogawa, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal in his office today.

During the meeting, the Ambassador presented to the Secretary-General the letter of credential accrediting the former as the Permanent Representative of Japan to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). The letter is signed by H. E. Mr. Fumio Kishida, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan.

So far, there are nine observers to SAARC:  China, Japan, Republic of Korea, USA, Iran, Mauritius, Australia, Myanmar and the European Union.

Japan obtained the observer status to SAARC in April 2007 during the Fourteenth SAARC Summit held in New Delhi.