 Photograph:www.news.lk |
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa called on members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to unite and resist against 'external manipulations' at the 18th SAARC summit this week.
Addressing the summit, being held in Kathmandu, Nepal, Rajapaksa said,
"While SAARC practice has been to abstain from involvement in bilateral issues of a political nature, we must resist external manipulations."
He went on to add,
"It would be morally in keeping with the SAARC spirit to join forces against external threats on member states."Heads of state from the eight SAARC countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan were present, alongside representatives from Australia, China, Iran, Japan,Republic of Korea, Myanmar, United States and the European Union.