SAARC Secretary General, Mr Ahmed Saleem along with two Directors of SAARC Secretariat, Mr Amrit Lugun and Mr Tareque Muhammad met Ambassador Viorel Isticioaia Budura, Managing Director for Asia and Pacific, European External Action Service and Ambassador Dr Alexander Spachis, Head of Delegation of EU to Nepal on March 19, 2012 in Kathmandu.

During the meeting the EU delegation expressed its keenness to broaden its engagement with SAARC by extending cooperation in a wide range of areas. The Secretary General welcomed EU’s interests in SAARC and reiterated that by working together, SAARC and EU could achieve significant progress in the coming days. The Secretary General pointed out the need to devise an appropriate cooperation arrangement to garner EU’s support in SAARC activities.

The two sides explored possibilities of cooperation, inter alia, in the areas of trade facilitation, connectivity, agriculture and SAARC Development Fund or SDF and any other area that may emerge in future. Both sides agreed to remain engaged to work out a framework of cooperation for the consideration of the SAARC Member States.