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The 14th Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ended in New Delhi Wednesday with a joint declaration.

In the eight-page declaration, most of it is devoted to the development of the eight SAARC countries, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

With its main goal to serve the peoples of South Asia, the gathered heads of state agreed to build a Partnership for Prosperity, allowing them to strive towards shared economic cooperation, regional prosperity and a fair distribution of regional benefits and opportunities leading to a better life for the people of South Asia.

The summit saw major agreements being finalized with decisions to bolster the SAARC Development Fund, establish the South Asian University with its headquarters in India, create a SAARC Food Bank, and set up a SAARC Arbitration Council among the major outcomes.

These proactive steps towards social and economic development show the SAARC members' resolve to truly make the organization a powerful instrument for regional interests.

In his closing speech at the 14th SAARC summit, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh highlighted that SAARC's highest mandate was to alleviate poverty, by making a difference in "the lives of the poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak."

"To win this war, we must work together. We must resolve our differences, and we must enhance regional cooperation. We must also win the war against all forms of extremism and intolerance in our region," he stressed.

Addressing their desire to ease intra-regional free trade, the SAARC summit saw pledge to rapidly create a roadmap for a South Asian Customs Union and a South Asian Economic Union.

So far, all SAARC countries have ratified the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement. The summit documented the next step with all members to ensure free market access by implementing trade liberalization programs, so that the SAFTA may be implemented "in letter and spirit".

The SAARC countries also confirmed they would implement a multilateral trading system and called on the WTO to bring to the Doha Round of talks to a successful close. 

Addressing the common fight against terrorism, the SAARC countries underlined that they view it as a severe threat to peace and security in the region. They pledged to stand firm against all targeted killings of civilians and against all forms of terrorist violence.

The SAARC countries further used the summit platform to ask for an urgent conclusion of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

Global observers from China, Japan, the European Union, South Korea, Iran, and the United States were also in attendance, with the members stating they would benefit from these links to the world and this would allow smoother global economic integration.

It was also announced that the 15th SAARC summit would be held in the Maldives although no date has yet been confirmed.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2007)