| President
Mahinda Rajapaksa will lead the Sri Lanka delegation at
the 14th Summit of the South Asian Association of Regional
Cooperation - SAARC. The
Heads of State of the seven SAARC member countries will
meet at the 14th Summit in New Delhi on 3rd & 4th
April 2007.
A special feature of this Summit
will be the admission of Afghanistan as the 8th member
of the association. China, the European Union, Japan,
South Korea and the United States will also be attending
the summit as observers.
The Meeting of the SAARC Programming
Committee, which will be attended by Senior Officials
of the member states, will begin today (30th of March).
Ms. Grace A. Ashirwatham, Director General of South
Asia and SAARC of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will
lead the Sri Lanka delegation at this session. This
will be followed by the 33rd Session of the Standing
Committee, which begins March 31,when Dr. Palitha Kohona,
Secretary Foreign Affairs will lead the Sri Lanka delegation.
Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama
will represent Sri Lanka at the 28th Session of the
Council of Ministers commencing on April 2.
At these Sessions, issues relating
to the implementation of the SAARC Free Trade Agreement
(SAFTA), promoting intra regional trade, socio-economic
development, poverty alleviation and curbing terrorism
will also be discussed.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are the current
seven member states of the SAARC which was founded in
1985.
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