SAARC ministerial meet: Swaraj to leave for Nepal on March 14

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will leave for Nepal on March 14 to attend SAARC ministerial meet even as there was no clarity on whether she will have a bilateral meeting with her Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said Swaraj along with Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will visit Nepal for SAARC meetings in Pokhra between March 14-17 during which India expects a comprehensive review of decisions that have been taken at SAARC forums over the past year and a half, especially India-initiated proposals like SAARC satellite.
Asked if Swaraj and Jaishankar would meet their Pakistani counterparts respectively, he said no schedule of bilateral meetings have been drawn up whether with Pakistan or any other country.

On SAARC meeting, the Spokesperson said, "Our focus would be to not only take stock of the decisions but also work out the way forward on priority issues where a coordinated approach is necessary.
"We also hope to review the state of play on the pacts that were close to finalisation at the last Summit but could not be concluded. We also plan to seek the views of our partners in SAARC on key initiatives mooted by us at the last Summit, including the satellite for SAARC project, the e-knowledge network project etc."
The 42nd Session of the Standing Committee of SAARC, which is a Foreign Secretaries level forum, will be held on March 16 and will prepare the ground for the 37th Session of the Council of Ministers on March 17, which will be attended by the Foreign Ministers of SAARC.

"As is customary, the working of various SAARC specialised bodies and regional centres will be scrutinised during the meetings and directions given for their work over the coming year," the Spokesperson said.