Sri Lanka will host the 5th SAARC Regional Health Ministers summit, the Health Ministry has announced.

According to a report in News First, the Health Ministry has said that the decision to hold the summit in Sri Lanka has been taken following a proposal submitted by Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena at the 2012 SAARC Regional Health Ministers held in Maldives on April 12.

Maldives President Dr. Mohamed Waheed inaugurated the 4th meeting of SAARC health ministers' summit.

The South Asian sub-continent faces the worst brunt of climate change in years to come, scientists of the UN’s Inter-governmental panel on climate change have warned. The sub-continent faces a challenge that it can only surmount acting in cohesion. While the countries in the region — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri-Lanka and India sketch their economic destinies and alleviate the endemic poverty in the subcontinent it now has to face the challenge of climate change.

“India, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan have a combined hydropower potential of 200 Giga Watt (GW), of which more than three-quarters is yet to be harnessed,” according to Indian commerce minister Anand Sharma.

Addressing the sixth South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) ministerial council in Islamabad, Pakistan on Thursday he said that India has made a strong pitch for setting up a $ 300-billion trans-national power grid in South Asia which will enable the region to trade in electricity.

As agreed at the recently held 17th SAARC Summit in the Maldives, Sri Lanka will set up a ‘SAARC Seed Bank’ to boost agriculture production in the region.

Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers yesterday approved a proposal made by the Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to establish the SAARC Seed Bank in Sri Lanka.

At the SAARC Summit held last week, the eight-member association signed an agreement to establish the SAARC Seed Bank to help farmers get quality seeds from the reserve in case of a shortage due to natural calamities.

As agreed at the recently held 17th SAARC Summit in the Maldives, Sri Lanka will set up a 'SAARC Seed Bank' to boost agriculture production in the region.

Sri Lanka's cabinet of ministers yesterday approved a proposal made by the Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to establish the SAARC Seed Bank in Sri Lanka.

At the SAARC Summit held last week, the eight-member association signed an agreement to establish the SAARC Seed Bank to help farmers get quality seeds from the reserve in case of a shortage due to natural calamities.

The Maldives has proposed to present a joint statement by the member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at the next round of UN climate talks.

The Maldives has proposed to the SAARC Standing Committee to present a joint statement by the member countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at the next round UN climate talks.

The cabinet today approved a proposal for signing of the 'SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters' aimed at taking united efforts by the member countries of the regional grouping to tackle natural disasters.

The approval was given at the regular meeting of the cabinet held in the secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

After the meeting, Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Abul Kalam Azad briefed journalists in the PID conference room.

Environment Ministers’ Meeting 30 September, 2011 - One of the outcomes of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation environment ministers’ meeting, which ended yesterday, was the endorsement of the terms of reference for four initiatives under the Thimphu declaration.

The Asian Development Bank in a latest study projected that the energy demand of the SAARC’s eight nations would double within next 10 years and suggested developing a regional power market to cope with the situation.

The 4th SAARC Energy Ministerial Meeting held in Dhaka Thursday adopted the study report which exclusively prepared for SAARC.

The study titled ‘Overview of energy trade prospects in south Asia’ prepared by PN Fernando, former manager, Energy Division, Infrastructure, Energy, Financial Sectors Dept, ADB.

South Asian nations agreed on Thursday to work to promote closer energy links for electricity grids and power generation, a senior energy official said. Energy ministers from the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) - bringing together Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka - finished their meeting on Thursday.