SAARC Charter Day celebrated on occasion of 28th anniversary of SAARC
(2013-12-06)
SAARC Charter Day was celebrated on 6th December 2013 in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad. Mr. Jalil Abbas Jilani Foreign Secretary graced the occasion as Chief Guest. In his address to the audience, he extended his well wishes and warm felicitations on 28th Anniversary of SAARC falling on 8thDecember 2013 to the people and Governments of SAARC Member States and said that despite several notable achievements made by SAARC over the last twenty years still there is growing realization that more need to be done to strengthen SAARC institutions to make the SAARC process more efficient, effective and result-oriented to realize the objective of the SAARC. Envoys from SAARC Member States based in Islamabad, Federal Secretaries and officers from SAARC Human Resource Development Centre, SAARC Energy Centre and SAARC Arbitration Council attended the event.
Dr. Maria Sultan, Director General, South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI), in her key note address highlighted the significance of the SAARC region where around 1.6 billion people inhabit with huge untapped resources that can be explored and utilized for the welfare and betterment of the people of the region. In her address, she emphasized upon measures to be take to bridge of gap and bring about enhanced people to people contacts.
Directors of three SAARC regional centre in Islamabad also gave brief presentations in which they informed audience about the mandate of their centers and remarkable achievements so far been made.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was founded on 8 December 1985 in Dhaka Bangladesh. Founding members of the SAARC are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined as the 8th member in 2007. So far 17 Summit meetings have been held. SAARC has nine observer states which include China, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Mauritius, Myanmar, Australia, United States and European Union.
Islamabad
6 December 2013