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Business News/ News / India/  Coronavirus: Pakistan to join video conference of SAARC nations
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Coronavirus: Pakistan to join video conference of SAARC nations

PM Modi says he is confident that coming together of SAARC leaders will lead to effective outcomes and benefit people
  • Islamabad is likely to be represented by Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister Zafar Mirza
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: Reuters)Premium
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Photo: Reuters)

    NEW DELHI: The threat posed by the novel coronavirus outbreak seems to have spurred the spirit of cooperation among countries in South Asia with Pakistan too expressing its willingness to join a video conference of the nations in the region as suggested by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson Aisha Farooqui, in a Twitter post early hours Saturday, said, "The threat of #COVID-19 requires coordinated efforts at global and regional level. We have communicated that SAPM on Health will be available to participate in the video conference of SAARC member countries on the issue."

    Islamabad is expected to be represented by Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister (SAPM) Zafar Mirza in the video conference on coronavirus outbreak that is to take place on Sunday.

    This has been conveyed to India through diplomatic channels as well, two people familiar with the matter separately said.

    “Timely action for a healthier planet. Tomorrow at 5 PM, leaders of SAARC nations will discuss, via conferencing, a roadmap to fight the challenge of COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus. I am confident that our coming together will lead to effective outcomes and benefit our citizens," PM Modi said in a Twitter post on Saturday.

    On Friday, six of eight SAARC countries had welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s offer of a conference to chalk out a common strategy to fight the COVID-19 and confirmed their participation in the conference via video links. These included Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

    SAARC refers to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation – which groups together Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives. Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka besides India. Born in the mid 1980s, the grouping has little to show for itself given that progress on issues like regional integration and connectivity has been slow mainly due to infighting between India and Pakistan.

    Pakistan was to host a summit of SAARC leaders in 2016 but India, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh pulled out citing Pakistan’s support to terrorism as not conducive for regional cooperation. No summit of SAARC has been held since. New Delhi has since been focussing on a new grouping of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries known by its acronym BIMSTEC whose leaders were invited to Modi’s oath taking ceremony after winning the 2019 General elections.

    All SAARC countries have reported COVID-19 cases. India recorded its second fatality due to the diseases on Friday with the number of positive cases rising to 81. Worldwide, COVID-19’cases have been reported from more than 120 countries with the death toll close to 5,000.

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    Published: 14 Mar 2020, 09:51 AM IST
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