Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday urged the SAARC Secretariat to work more intensely to make the regional body functional for the common benefit of the South Asian countries."SAARC is a forgotten word. If you can revitalise it, this will give dividend to the people of the whole region," he said as Secretary General of SAARC Golam Sarwar called on him at his office in Tejgaon, Dhaka.Sarwar thanked Prof Yunus for being a big supporter of the SAARC and said that they were encouraged by his recent call to South Asian leaders for the revival of the multilateral body, reports BSS. He briefed the Bangladesh chief adviser about the ongoing activities of SAARC at the working level, including the Programming Committee, Governing Bodies of Regional Centres and Specialised Bodies, events on climate change, SDGs, regional integration, customs cooperation, among others.
He said that in the absence of high-level meetings, the functional initiatives were not getting adequate strength and clarity.
Prof Yunus and the SAARC secretary general discussed the need for meetings of foreign secretaries, foreign ministers, and other sectoral ministers, and even the summit of the leaders for better functioning of the body.
"We have partnerships with a lot of organisations. We are trying to explore those," said the SAARC secretary general.
The chief adviser asked the secretary general to work on multilateral issues such as the export of hydroelectric power of Nepal to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, India, and Bhutan.
He invited young people from SAARC countries to join the youth festival in Bangladesh in January.
"This will be good because this focuses on youth. The whole SAARC idea is to bring people together. This could be one way of opening the door," the chief adviser said.
This year, SAARC celebrates the historic 40th Charter Day.
The SAARC secretary general requested continued support and guidance from the Bangladesh government for reinvigorating the SAARC process in realising the charter objectives of the association.