17th SAARC summit wraps up with poverty, inequalities in mind

Addu City, Maldives: Renewing their commitment to alleviate poverty and reduce income inequalities within the societies and to improve the quality of life and well-being of their people through people-centred sustainable development, the leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries today concluded their 17th summit “Building Bridges” here.

The next SAARC summit will be held in Nepal.
The leaders were mindful of the plurality of cultures and diversities within the region and cognizant of the need to promote inter-cultural harmony through greater contact and interaction among their people, a statement issued after the summit said. Deeply concerned about the continuing threat of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, transnational organised crimes, especially illegal trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, trafficking in persons and small arms and increased incidents of maritime piracy in the region, they all reiterated their resolve to fight all such menaces, the statement added. The heads of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the two-day summit welcomed the signing of the Rapid Response to Natural Disasters agreement, the SAARC Seed Bank agreement, the SAARC agreement on Multilateral Arrangement on Recognition of Conformity Assessment and the SAARC Agreement on Implementation of Regional Standards.They also emphasised the importance of the full implementation of
the SAFTA as a measure towards creation of an enabling economic environment in the region, according to the statement.The recommendations of the first meeting of the South Asia Forum that SAARC needs to move from looking within to accepting the logic of interdependence were also looked into during the summit.The SAARC leaders in the summit declaration said that the full enjoyment of fundamental rights by women and girls is an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights and that gender-based violence and discriminatory practices constitute a violation of fundamental rights.