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SAARC pact to fight terrorism on the anvil

COLOMBO: An agreement to launch the SAARC Development Fund (SDF) with a corpus of $307 million and a Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance are among the four pacts slated to be signed when the heads of state meet here for the SAARC summit, scheduled for August 2-3.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said an agreement on the establishment of the South Asia Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO) and a pact for formal entry of Afghanistan into the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) would also be approved.

Also, the heads of state of Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan would consider ways for a ‘greater role’ to countries with ‘Observer’ status — China, Iran, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mauritius, the U.S and EU — at the conference. Representations from Australia and Myanmar for ‘Observer’ status would be considered at the meet. Sri Lanka is hosting the 15th SAARC Conference and President Mahinda Rajapaksa will inaugurate the meet on August 2. Mr. Bogollagama said a fund to manage food crisis, move to adopt common currency and mechanisms to augment resources to tackle the fuel price crisis are among issues that would be discussed. He said a treaty on mutual legal assistance to fight terrorism is on the cards.

Sri Lanka on Saturday took serious exception to the statement made by the visiting delegation of the European Parliament (EP) on the human rights situation in the country. The government said the statement was based on “drawing door discussions with people carrying on their own agendas.”

Mr. Bogollagama said the delegation did not have a comprehensive picture of developments in the country. “Any one can issue statements sitting in the confines of Colombo. The EU statement does not appreciate the developments in the last few months, particularly in the east where terrorism has been defeated and an elected government is functioning,” he said.

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