2016 to be Year of Cultural Heritage for SAARC

Expressing the need to effectively implement its agenda for culture, the SAARC on Thursday declared 2016 as the year of cultural heritage.

"They directed to effectively implement the SAARC Agenda for Culture and agreed to take measures to preserve and restitute the South Asian cultural property and create a SAARC heritage list together with the operational guidelines. They declared the year 2016 as the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage and tasked the relevant bodies to develop an action plan for its success," said the Kathmandu Declaration.

"They also agreed to develop a cultural trail linking major Buddhist historical sites in the region. The leaders further agreed to facilitate access of persons visiting prominent and holy sites of Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and all other major religions in South Asia," it added.

Expressing their resolve for making South Asia an attractive common tourist destination in a sustainable manner, the SAARC directed relevant bodies to effectively implement SAARC Action Plan on Tourism (2006) particularly through initiating appropriate public-private collaboration.

"They also called for effective and full implementation of their existing decision to charge nationals of SAARC Member States fees for entry into archaeological and heritage sites as applicable to their own nationals," the declaration said.