South Asian Association for Regional cooperation (SAARC)
1.The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) is an organization of South Asian nations, founded in 1985Nepal
Kathmandu
2. Dedicated to economic, technological, social, and
cultural development emphasizing collective self-reliance.
3.Headquarters Kathmandu,
Nepal
4.Official languages:English
5.Membership 8
members,9 observers Its seven founding members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan joined the organization in 2007 as eighth
member.
6.Chairman:Mahinda Rajapaksa
Secretary General:Sheel Kant Sharma
7.At the 12th SAARC Summit at Islamabad, Totally 3 SAARC
summits held in india
8., SAARC countries devised the South Asia Free Trade
Agreement This agreement went into force on January 1, 2008. Under this
agreement, SAARC members will bring their duties down to 20 per cent by 2009.
Secretaries General
Abul Ahsan
January 16, 1987 to 15 October 1989
Kant Kishore Bhargava
October 17, 1989 to December 31, 1991
Ibrahim Hussain Zaki
January 1, 1992 to December 31, 1993
Yadav Kant Silwal
January 1, 1994 to December 31, 1995
Naeem U. Hasan
January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1998
Nihal Rodrigo
January 1, 1999 to January 10, 2002
Q.A.M.A. Rahim
January 11, 2002 to February 28, 2005
Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji
March 1, 2005 to February 29, 2008
Sheel Kant Sharma
March 1, 2008 to present
List of SAARC summits
No. Location Date
1st Dhaka 7-8 December 1985
2nd Bangalore 16-17 November 1986
3rd Kathmandu 2-4 November 1987
4th Islamabad 29-31 December 1988
5th Malé 21-23 November 1990
6th Colombo 21 December 1991
7th Dhaka 10-11 April 1993
8th New Delhi 2-4 May 1995
9th Malé 12-14 May 1997
10th Colombo 29-31 July 1998
11th Kathmandu 4-6 January 2002
12th Islamabad 2-6 January 2004
13th Dhaka
12-13 November 2005
14th New Delhi 3-4 April 2007
15th Colombo 1-3 August 2008
16th Thimphu 28-29 April 2010
17 th
Maldives 2012
