NEW DELHI: The foreign ministers of seven South Asian countries welcomed Afghanistan into the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) yesterday, and prepared for the summit where the fight against terrorism would be a key topic of discussion today and Wednesday.

They will ask their leaders to issue a "very strong statement against terrorism", Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said.

Representatives from China, Japan, South Korea, the US and the European Union, too, will attend the summit's opening and closing sessions and some meetings as observers.

The induction of Afghanistan into the group will bring the group closer to Central Asia, India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said. SAARC now has eight members: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan. The countries are home to one-fifth of the world's people and many of it's most impoverished.

The group was set up in 1985 to promote economic cooperation among South Asian countries, but progress has been slow because of the rivalry between India and Pakistan.

Welcoming Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta at yesterday's meeting, India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Afghanistan would help link the region with Central Asia.

The summit agenda include cooperation against terrorism, setting up a South Asian university and a regional food bank, and implementation of a regional free trade agreement, an Indian Foreign Ministry statement said.

Member states also are considering India's proposal to improve connectivity in the region - provision of transit facilities, access to road and railroad networks, waterways and increased air connectivity, Mukherjee said.

Terrorism affects most SAARC countries, and India and Sri Lanka have been battling armed insurgencies for decades. The new entrant to the group Afghanistan says Taliban militants are organizing attacks from Pakistani territory, a charge Pakistan denies.

Member states earlier ratified a SAARC Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism.

Agencies

(China Daily 04/03/2007 page2)