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Kathmandu, December 13: On the occasion of the historic 40th Charter Day of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), the Secretary-General Ambassador Md. Golam Sarwar hosted a reception in Kathmandu on Thursday (December 12).

Ramsahay Prasad Yadav, Vice President of Nepal, graced the function as the Chief Guest.

Among the esteemed guests present at the commemorative event were office-bearers of the Constitutional Bodies of Nepal, Members of Parliament, former ministers, Ministry secretaries, high-ranking officials, heads of diplomatic missions and international organizations in Kathmandu, representatives of the business community and civil society, editors and reporters of media houses and people from all walks of life.

Heads of States/Governments of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as well as the Foreign Ministers of Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka issued special messages on December 8 to commemorate this momentous day. In their messages, the Heads of States/Governments and Ministers of Foreign Affairs have underlined the important role of SAARC as a shared platform for its Member States to foster mutual understanding, regional cooperation and solidarity. The SAARC Leaders have also re-committed to realizing the collective vision of a peaceful, prosperous and more integrated South Asia.

Addressing today’s function, Ambassador Sarwar stated that over the past four decades, SAARC has made valuable progress in consolidating and streamlining institutional structure, norm-setting and program implementation in priority areas of regional cooperation, which are crucial to promoting the welfare of the people and improving their quality of life. Looking back, our journey over the past four decades has been remarkable, the Secretary-General said, “We are deeply grateful for the commitments and contributions made by our member states, SAARC Specialized Bodies, Regional Centres, Observers of SAARC, and our regional and international partners”.

The Secretary-General further stated that SAARC represented more than one-fourth of the world’s population and, endowed with vast human and natural resources, South Asia had immense potential to grow and prosper together as a region. With sustained endeavours, we will surely be able to realize the region’s vast possibilities through effective regional cooperation and integration, he added.

The event also featured a live cultural performance representing the rich cultural traditions of all eight SAARC member states. The guests were treated to delicious cuisines of all SAARC countries.

It may be mentioned that the Heads of States/Governments of seven South Asian countries launched SAARC by adopting its Charter at the First Summit held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on December 8, 1985. Since then, December 8 is observed as the SAARC Charter Day every year across the South Asia region.

People’s News Monitoring Service.