SAARC Summit in Bhutan

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will lead Sri Lanka's delegation to the eight-nation 16th SAARC Summit in Thimpu, Bhutan from Wednesday. This is the first time that Bhutan is hosting the Summit.

President Rajapaksa holds the current Chairmanship of SAARC, which held its 15th Summit in Colombo in August 2008. SAARC is celebrating its silver jubilee this year, having held its first Summit in Dhaka in December 1985.

This will also be the first official overseas assignment for the new External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris. Several senior officials will also be in the delegation.

Heads of State and Government of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Maldives and Nepal will also attend the two-day meeting.

The summit is expected to culminate in a joint declaration entitled 'Towards a Green and Happy South Asia' and will see the signing of pacts on environment and trade in services. A separate Ministerial Declaration on Climate Change will also be issued.

The SAARC countries will sign a convention on environment to boost exchange of best practices and knowledge, capacity building and transfer of eco-friendly technology in areas such as climate change, coastal zone management, wildlife conservation and environmental impact assessment studies.

The eight countries will also sign an agreement on trade in services that is expected to accelerate regional collaboration in diverse areas like health, hospitality, communications, computer and information services and air transport. Australia and Myanmar will join the eight-nation bloc as observers at the 16th SAARC summit in Bhutan next week.

With the participation of Australia and Myanmar at the April 28-29 summit in Bhutan certain, the total number of observers at the SAARC has now reached nine.