PM Gilani arrives in Maldives to attend SAARC Summit

ADDU: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday arrived here to lead Pakistan's delegation to the 17th SAARC Summit which will start on Thursday in this beautiful small island of Maldives.

The Prime Minister was accorded a red carpet welcome when he alighted from a special plane.

He was received at the Gan International Airport by President of Maldives Mohammad Nasheed and other officials. He was presented a bouquet by two small children and national anthems of the two countries were played.

The two leaders introduced members of their delegations to each other.

A smartly turned out contingent of Maldivian armed forces presented salute to Prime Minister Gilani. He reviewed the guard of honour. Later he wrote remarks in the visitors’ book: "It's my second visit to Maldives. Excellent resort. I wish to visit again."

He was accompanied by Minister for Interior A Rehman Malik, Minister for Communications Arbab Alamgir Khan and Minister for Ports and Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri.

The Summit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will be attended by heads of states and governments of its eigh member countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and representatives of Observer States.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and other officials of the Foreign Office have already arrived here to attend the SAARC Summit.

The Maldivian Government has made extensive arrangements for the Summit despite limited resources and lack of land due to the country of islands.

The Summit will adopt a declaration titled "Building Bridges", which will focus on issues ranging from physical connectivity in the region to trade, economic, financial and environmental cooperation.

During the Summit, Prime Minister Gilani is expected to highlight important issues like matters relating to poverty alleviation, energy cooperation, interaction in agriculture and rural development, cooperation on promotion of welfare of women and children and development of better health facilities for the peoples of South Asia in his key address.

Bilateral meetings of Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani with his counterparts of SAARC countries have been scheduled on the sidelines of the Summit. It is expected that he will also hold a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

Maldives is hosting the third summit of this organization which was founded at Dhaka in 1985.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011