SM Krishna arrives in Maldives to attend SAARC summit
Krishna,
who
flew
down
to
this
picturesque
city
from
Bangalore,
will
attend
the
SAARC
Foreign
Minister's
meeting
today
where
the
focus
is
likely
to
be
on
the
connectivity
between
the
member
states—India,
Pakistan,
Sri
Lanka,
Nepal,
Bhutan,
Bangladesh,
Afghanistan
and
Maldives—and
a
host
of
other
regional
issues.
Besides attending the regional meet, Krishna will also be part of the bilateral talks to be held by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with heads of governments of other member countries.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is also flying in to Maldives today for the SAARC meeting.
The issue of Most Favoured Nation trade status to India is also likely to crop up in his talks with his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani and a clarity on the issue may emerge after the meetings after some sort of flip-flop on the part of Islamabad in explaining the decision.
The theme of the 17th Summit, being hosted for the third time by the Maldives, is 'Building Bridges'.
Official sources said the focus of this year's summit would be on improving the infrastructure of connectivity and trade and better people-to-people contact.
Four agreements will be inked during the SAARC summit. These will include two agreements on regional standards, one to establish a rapid response mechanism to deal with natural disasters, and another to establish a SAARC Seed Bank.
The
South
Asian
Association
for
Regional
Cooperation,
(SAARC)
was
created
in
1985
in
Dhaka
with
7
members,
as
an
expression
of
the
region's
collective
decision
to
evolve
a
regional
cooperative
framework.
PTI