The 45th Session of the SAARC Programming Committee was held on 17 February 2014 in the Bandos Island Resort, the Maldives.

H.E. Mr. Hassan Shifau, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of the Republic of Maldives and Chair for the Meeting opened the Session by welcoming the delegates from all Member States and SAARC Secretariat.

In his opening remarks, H.E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary-General of SAARC updated the Committee on the implementation of the decisions taken at the Forty-fourth Session of the Programming Committee (SAARC Secretariat, 9-11 December 2013).

The Programming Committee deliberated on a number of issues of cooperation and financial and administrative matters of SAARC. Delegations from all the SAARC Members attended the Meeting.

The Thirty-Fifth Session of the SAARC Ministers of Foreign/External Affairs will be held in the Maldives on 20th February 2014. This would be preceded by Fortieth Session of the Standing Committee, 6th Special Session of the Standing Committee and Forty-fifth Session of the Programming Committee during 17-19 February, 2014. All Member States will participate in these meetings..

H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary-General of SAARC, paid a farewell call on H. E. Mr. Shanker Das Bairagi, Foreign Secretary of Nepal.  

At the start of the meeting, the Secretary-General thanked the Foreign Secretary for finding time to receive him. The Secretary-General also congratulated the Foreign Secretary on his new and important assignment.

In his briefing, the Secretary-General acknowledged that the establishment of the Association has largely contributed to the maintenance of peace in the region, besides opening up ample vistas for effective regional cooperation. He stated that there is much that SAARC could achieve for the common good of the people in the region. He further said that in order to make SAARC a robust organization, the SAARC Secretariat has recently conducted a comprehensive Study to strengthen its mechanisms, including the Secretariat, Regional Centres and Specialized Bodies of SAARC.

In his remarks, the Foreign Secretary emphasized upon the need to develop and implement sub-regional and regional projects that bring about tangible benefits for the people of South Asia. He laid emphasis on strengthening people-to-people contacts through people-centric programs and projects.   He also stressed on the need to strengthen the SAARC Secretariat to meet the ever-increasing ambit of regional cooperation under the auspices of the Association.

The Secretary-General thanked the Foreign Secretary for the support and cooperation extended to him and the Secretariat by the Government of Nepal as the host.

The Foreign Secretary complimented the Secretary-General for the exemplary leadership he provided to the Secretariat in taking forward the process of regional cooperation.

Mr. Dhan Bahadur Oli, Director, SAARC Secretariat was present at the meeting.

H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary-General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) addressed the Inaugural Session of the Fifth SAARC Business Leaders’ Conclave in New Delhi today.

Organized by the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and the Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), the Conclave brought together Hon. Ministers of Commerce and Industry from all the Member States of SAARC except Bangladesh, besides a large number of trade delegations from them. The Conclave was devoted to theme, South Asian Century: Progressing towards Regional Integration.

Addressing the Inaugural Session of the Conclave, the Secretary-General stated, “Economic cooperation in the region was initiated in the early 90s with the institution of the Committee on Economic Cooperation, following the completion of the first SAARC Study on Trade and Manufactures and Services.  While it is very true that SAARC has taken small steps at a time, there has never been a case of looking back.  As a result, SAARC today has many a success story to relate.” He further said, “Since the early 1990s, SAARC has taken several important initiatives to enhance regional economic integration. The SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA), the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), and more recently, the SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS) are landmark Agreements in the pursuit of our common objective of speedy regional integration. With the coming into being of these Agreements, statistical evidence suggests that intra-sub regional trade among SAFTA members is rising slowly and steadily. South Asia’s intra-sub-regional trade share increased from 2.7% in 1990 to 4.3% in 2011.”

H. E. Mr. Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce and Industry of India delivered the Inaugural Address at the Conclave. Others addressing the Inaugural Session included Mr. V. S. Sahney, President, SCCI, Mr. Sidharth Birla, President, FICCI, and Mr. Siegfried Herzog, Regional Director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.