Asia’s Biggest ‘Talk-Fest’ Begins

New Delhi is the venue of the 14th SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) annual summit. India is chairing the two-day summit where leaders from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives are participating.

Officials from the European Union, the United States, China, Japan and South Korea are attending the summit as observers.

The eight-member organization was designed for South Asian nations to forge a regional consensus on various issues and establish an economic union with zero tariffs and a single currency by the year 2020, says Strategic Forecasting Inc

Speaking at the opening of the SAARC summit here, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said he was according an ‘extremely warm welcome to (President) Hamid Karzai and to the people of Afghanistan for joining SAARC, says M&C.

“Among the South Asian leaders who attentively heard his remarks were Karzai himself, who just before leaving for New Delhi accused the Pakistani establishment of continuing to finance, train and assist the Taliban militia and give sanctuary to its leaders.”

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