South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an organisation of South Asian nations, founded in December 1985 and dedicated to economic, technological, social, and cultural development emphasising collective self-reliance. Its seven founding members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Afghanistan joined the organization in 2005. Meetings of heads of state are usually scheduled annually; meetings of foreign secretaries, twice annually. It is headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Current members

•      Afghanistan
•      Bangladesh
•      Bhutan
•      India
•       Maldives
•       Nepal
•      Pakistan
•      Sri Lanka

Secretaries General :

Abul Ahsan	January 16, 1987 to 15 October 1989
Kant Kishore Bhargava	October 17, 1989 to December 31, 1991
Ibrahim Hussain Zaki	January 1, 1992 to December 31, 1993
Yadav Kant Silwal	January 1, 1994 to December 31, 1995
Naeem U. Hasan	January 1, 1996 to December 31, 1998
Nihal Rodrigo	January 1, 1999 to January 10, 2002
Q.A.M.A. Rahim	January 11, 2002 to February 28, 2005
Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji	March 1, 2005 to February 29, 2008
Sheel Kant Sharma	March 1, 2008 to February 28, 2011
Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed	March 1, 2011 to present

SAARC summits :

No	Date	Country	Host	Host leader
1st	7–8 December 1985	Bangladesh	Dhaka	Ataur Rahman Khan
2nd	16–17 November 1986	India	Bangalore	Rajiv Gandhi
3rd	2–4 November 1987	Nepal	Kathmandu	Marich Man Singh Shrestha
4th	29–31 December 1988	Pakistan	Islamabad	Benazir Bhutto
5th	21–23 November 1990	Maldives	Malé	Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
6th	21 December 1991	Sri Lanka	Colombo	Dingiri Banda Wijetunge
7th	10-11 April 1993	Bangladesh	Dhaka	Khaleda Zia
8th	2–4 May 1995	India	New Delhi	P. V. Narasimha Rao
9th	12–14 May 1997	Maldives	Malé	Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
10th	29–31 July 1998	Sri Lanka	Colombo	Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike
11th	4–6 January 2002	Nepal	Kathmandu	Sher Bahadur Deuba
12th	2–6 January 2004	Pakistan	Islamabad	Zafarullah Khan Jamali
13th	12–13 November 2005	Bangladesh	Dhaka	Khaleda Zia
14th	3–4 April 2007	India	New Delhi	Manmohan Singh
15th	1–3 August 2008	Sri Lanka	Colombo	Ratnasiri Wickremanayake
16th	28–29 April 2010	Bhutan	Thimphu	Jigme Thinley
17th	November 2011 (Planned)	Maldives	Addu	Mohamed Nasheed

Posted in: GENERAL AWARNESS