Nepal to host 18th SAARC Summit

Nepal today offered to host the 18th SAARC Summit in November this year.
The meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministries held in the Bandos Island of the Maldives today welcomed Nepal's offer to host the Summit for a third time, a statement from Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The proposal was made during the 35th meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Council of Foreign Ministers in the Maldives.
Earlier, Nepal had hosted the third SAARC Summit and 11th Summit in Kathmandu in November 1987 and January 2002 respectively.
Member states of SAARC, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka welcomed the proposal made by Nepal.

Foreign Ministers of all member states, except Nepal were present during the Council of Ministers' meet. Officiating Foreign Secretary Shankar Bairagi led the Nepalese delegation to the meeting.
The meeting formally approved Nepal's nomination of Arjun Bahadur Thapa, former Foreign Secretary, as the 12th Secretary-General of the SAARC for a period of three years from March 1.