H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary-General of SAARC, paid an introductory visit to Sri Lanka from 28 to 30 May 2012.

During the visit, the Secretary-General called on His Excellency Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka on 28 May.  At the meeting, the Secretary-General apprised the President of the status of implementation of the recommendations of the Seventeenth SAARC Summit, with a particular reference to intra-regional trade and connectivity.  The President expressed the unwavering commitment of Sri Lanka to the strengthening of the SAARC process to promote the welfare of the people in the region.

The Secretary-General called on H. E. Niomal Perera, Deputy Minister of External Affairs of Sri Lanka on 29 May. During the meeting, the Secretary-General briefed the Minister about the ongoing activities of the Association.  

On 28 May, the Secretary-General called on H. E. Mr. Karunathilake Amunugama, Secretary/External Affairs of Sri Lanka. During the meeting, the Secretary-General and the Foreign Secretary reviewed the decisions of the Seventeenth Summit and took stock of progress made in their implementation. At the meeting, the Secretary-General and the Foreign Secretary also discussed the urgent need to strengthen the SAARC Secretariat.

While in Colombo, the Secretary-General met Mr. Sumith Nakandala, Secretary-General (designate) of BIMSTEC on 29 May. The Secretary-General briefed the latter about the role and structure of the SAARC Secretariat, among others.

The Secretary-General paid a visit to the SAARC Cultural Centre on 29 May. During the visit, Mr. G.L.W. Samarasinghe, Director informed the Secretary-General about the ongoing activities of the Centre. The Secretary-General felicitated the Director and his able team for the very useful work being done by the Centre to promote cultural links among the countries in the region.

Earlier on 28 May, the Secretary-General addressed the Inaugural Session of South Asia Follow up Regional Consultation on the UN Study on Violence Against Children hosted by the Government of Sri Lanka. In his Address, he briefly highlighted the initiatives taken by SAARC in  promoting the  cause of children and women in particular.

Directors Mrs. R. D. Rajapakse and Mr. Ibrahim Zuhuree accompanied the Secretary-General to these meetings in Colombo.

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H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary-General of SAARC, visited Thimphu from 22 to 24 May 2012.

During the visit, the Secretary-General called on H. E. Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley, Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Bhutan on 24 May 2012.  During the meeting, the Secretary-General apprised the Prime Minister of the progress made in the implementation of the recommendations of the Seventeenth SAARC Summit.  At the meeting, the Prime Minister expressed the continued support of the Royal Government to the strengthening of the SAARC process for the common good of peoples in the region.

Earlier on 24 May, the Secretary-General called on H. E. Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, Minister-in-charge for Foreign Affairs. The Secretary-General apprised the Minister of the ongoing activities of the Association. The Minister and the Secretary-General also discussed the imperative need to strengthen the SAARC Secretariat so as to make it more effective and efficient.

The Secretary-General also called on H. E. Dasho Daw Penjo, Foreign Secretary of Bhutan on 24 May. The Foreign Secretary and the Secretary-General discussed matters pertaining to intra-regional trade and connectivity, with a particular focus on the implementation of the decisions of the Seventeenth Summit.  

During his three-day stay in Thimphu, the Secretary-General visited the SAARC Development Fund Secretariat and held discussions with its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Karma and his colleagues. During the meeting, the Secretary-General called upon the SDF Secretariat to expedite the process of operationalizing the Economic and Infrastructure Windows of the Fund.

While in Thimphu, the Secretary-General also paid a visit to the SAARC Forestry Centre and met its Director Mr. Sangay Wangchuk and his subordinates. During the meeting, the Director briefed the Secretary-General on the ongoing activities of the Centre.

On 23 May, the Secretary-General opened the Meeting of the National Focal Points of SAARC Member States convened to prepare the Terms of Reference for the strengthening of SAARC Mechanisms, including the Secretariat and Regional Centres.

Mr. Pema L. Dorji, Director, SAARC Secretariat, accompanied the Secretary-General to these meetings and visits in Thimphu.

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The Seventh Meeting of the Committee of Heads of University Grants Commissions / Equivalent Bodies was held under the auspices of the Royal Government f Bhutan and was inaugurated by His Excellency Thakur S. Powdyel, Hon’able Minister of Education of the Royal Government of Bhutan.

The Meeting while taking stock of implementation of decisions taken at the Sixth Meeting of  the Committee of Heads of University Grants Commissions / Equivalent Bodies (Dhaka, 18 – 19 July 2010), made a number of recommendations with a view to benchmarking the higher education standards among SAARC Member States. In this regard, the Meeting deliberated on mutual recognition of professional degrees, achieving a goal of a common regional educational standard and quality assurance and accreditation mechanism.

The Meeting, inter alia, deliberated upon ways forward in developing a credit transfer system within SAARC Universities, identifying common research themes as well as developing a web portal to share best practices in higher education and exchange of expertise among the Member States.  

The Meeting welcomed the new offers of scholarships made by Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka further shared with the delegations information regarding one hundred (100) scholarships given by the Government of Sri Lanka to foreign students including those from the SAARC region. The scholarships that are offered annually by the Governments of Bangladesh, India and Nepal are expected to continue in 2012 – 2013 as well.

The intention shown by the Sri Lanka to offer Chair and Fellowship positions in the near future was welcomed by the Meeting.

Matters related to Open and Distance Learning (ODL) were also taken into consideration and the Meeting welcomed the offer of Sri Lanka to host a workshop on ‘MOODLE’ to transform web based study materials for the benefit of South Asian students who are undertaking ODL studies.

A number of activities including A Regional Conference on the Status of Higher Education in South Asia (to be hosted by India) and a Debate Contest among University Students (to be hosted by Pakistan) are expected to take place in the year 2012 – 2013.

The Meeting recommended that the SAARC Secretariat explore avenues in building linkages with agencies with which SAARC has MoUs in the area of education / higher education as recommended by the First Meeting of SAARC Ministers of Education / Higher Education (Colombo, 26 March 2009).

The Seventh Meeting of the Committee of Heads of University Grants Commissions / Equivalent Bodies was successfully concluded in Thimphu on 19 – 20 April 2012.

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The Second Meeting of the Inter-Governmental Expert Group on Climate Change was held at the SAARC Secretariat on 16-17 April 2012. The Inter-Governmental Expert Group on Climate Change was established by the Thimphu Statement on Climate Change with the mandate to monitor and review the implementation of the Thimphu Statement on Climate Change and make recommendations to facilitate its implementation.

The Thimphu Statement on Climate Change which was adopted by the Heads of State or Government of Member States of SAARC at the Sixteenth SAARC Summit (Thimphu, 28-29 April 2010) contains a number of initiatives to be implemented at the national and regional level to address the adverse effects of climate change.

The First Meeting of the Inter-Governmental Expert Group on Climate Change was held in Colombo on 29-30 June 2011. The Second Meeting of the Inter-Governmental Expert Group on Climate Change took stock of the progress made towards the implementation of the various initiatives since its first meeting and made a number of recommendations to ensure timely implementation of the Thimphu Statement.

Among others, Member States provided updates on the initiatives being undertaken at the national level with regard to the implementation of the Dhaka Declaration and Action Plan on Climate Change. The meeting also reviewed the status of implementation of the SAARC Inter-governmental Mountain Initiative by the SAARC Forestry Center; the Climate-related Disasters Initiative by the SAARC Disaster Management Center; the Monsoon Initiative by the SAARC Meteorological Research Center; and the Marine Initiative by the SAARC Coastal Zone Management Center. It also took stock of the progress made with regard to commissioning the SAARC Regional Study on “Climate Risks in the region: ways to comprehensively address the related social, economic and environmental challenges”.

The Third Meeting of Inter-governmental Expert Group on Climate Change will be held in the last quarter of 2012.

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