December 16, 2001
KATHMANDU: The draft of the Kathmandu Declaration to be adopted by the 11th summit of the seventeen SAARC in January is complete and will be sent to member nations for approval.
Finance Minister Dr.Ram Sharan Mahat said this before flying to New Delhi as a special emissary of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to deliver an invitation Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to attend the summit in Kathmandu from January 4 to 6.
“Regional co-operation has to have an economic content and without it regional co-operation has no meaning,” he said before departure for the Indian capital.
The delayed summit will discuss a free trade zone in the region. Leaders of South Asia will sign two conventions in Kathmandu banning trafficking in women and promoting child welfare.