Twenty one years ago, the leaders of seven South Asian countries; Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka came together in Dhaka, on December 8th 1985 and signed the Charter of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to provide a platform for the peoples of South Asia to work together in a spirit of friendship, trust and understanding with a view to accelerate the process of economic and social development among member countries.
Since that day, the Association has made considerable strides in regional cooperation, in our quest to provide for the well being, prosperity and progress of the people in the region.
The impressive achievement in SAARC was the entry into force of the agreement to provide a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and its operationlisation will help contribute to achieve progress and benefits through enhanced economic and trade activities among member states.
While we in SAARC can look back with considerable satisfaction on the achievements of the organization in the past two decades, much more needs to be done. At the last 13th SAARC Summit the leaders recognized the need to focus on a vision for the “Third Decade of SAARC” and to accelerate the existing cooperation and programmes. I look forward to the forthcoming 14th SAARC Summit in 2007, to consolidate our commitment to the vision forward.