SAARC Summit Opens In Colombo

Saturday, August 2, 2008 at 12:19 pm

COLOMBO: A summit of South Asian leaders opened in Sri Lanka on Saturday slated to focus on trade, terrorism and poverty, but tensions between India and Pakistan were expected to eclipse the regional talks.

Sri Lanka has urged to adopt common strategy against terrorism.

In his inaugural address, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that most of the countries in the region facing terrorism and therefore a common strategy should be adopted against terrorism.

The basic purpose of the SAARC is to make people of the region prosperous. SAARC members should do more to protect democratic norms and exchange of information.

The summit is presided by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, outgoing head of the eight-nation group.

He was due to meet later in the day with his Pakistan counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani to discuss how to keep alive their strained peace process.