| As
the eradication of terrorism from the region will help
development, all members should be united in carrying
out a joint strategy to defeat terrorism and wipe it
out from the region, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa
at the Round Table discussion with all heads of delegations
to the 14th SAARC Summit chaired by Indian President
Abdul Kalam, at Rashtrapathi Bhawan
yesterday (April 03).
There were extensive discussions
at the Round Table on the need to eradicate terrorism
from the South Asia region, with overall endorsement
by the other leaders of the SAARC countries of the observations
made by President Rajapaksa in this regard, at his address
to the opening session of the SAARC Summit yesterday.
President Rajapaksa also apprised
the other leaders of the SAARC counties of the steps
being taken in Sri Lanka to raise the living standards
of the rural population.
Indian President Abdul Kalam had
expressed his appreciation of the programme being implemented
in Sri Lanka for the eradication of poverty. He had
said
there was a similar programme in India, under which
700,000 villages were being developed.
The attention of the Round Table
was drawn to the need carry out development work targeting
the rural populations as the larger proportion of people
in this SAARC region lived in rural communities.
All Heads of State and Government
and Foreign Ministers attending the SAARC Summit participated
in the Round Table discussion.
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