Nepal, the host of the 18th Saarc Summit, has primarily finalised the wordings of the theme for the upcoming Summit of the South Asian regional bloc laying emphasis on connectivity to prosper together.
If not changed, ‘Connectivity for Shared Prosperity’ will be the theme of the 18th Summit to be held in the capital of the Himalayan country – Kathmandu – on November 26-27 after two years.
The Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Advisory Committee has decided and recommended to the Nepal Ministry for Foreign Affairs to adopt ‘Connectivity for Shared Prosperity’ as the theme, reports Nepalese media quoting Nepal’s acting Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi as saying.
MoFA had set up the Committee under the coordination of Nepal’s former foreign minister Bhekh Bahadur Thapa to suggest an appropriate theme for the upcoming regional jamboree.
Bairagi further said the government would consider the recommendation made by the committee.
A member of the committee said it has decided to recommend the connectivity theme since it emphasises connection and linkages from energy grids to rail, road, water and air links, inter-cultural as well as people-to-people contacts in the entire region.
It is up to the host country to decide the Summit theme, which should reflect issues concerning all eight-member states of the regional bloc.
The ‘Building Bridges’ theme of the 17th Summit in Addu Atoll of the Maldives in 2011 also reflected connectivity as it had to do with both physical connectivity and political dialogue.
Source: UNB
