Why in News ?
India-Pak In SAARC CICA Meet. India and Pakistan crossed swords over terrorism and Jammu and Kashmir at the Foreign Minister’s meetings of the
- 8-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
- The 27-nation Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
About the Meet
- The need to brings together Asian nations ranging from Russia and Central Asia to the Gulf and South-East Asia.
- India advised Pakistan to cease its sponsorship and overt and covert support to terrorism against India.
- Most countries agreed it is not the better time to convene the summit as proposed by Pakistan, given the COVID-19 situation.
- SAARC nations built a common stand on the need to cooperate in battling the coronavirus pandemic.
- Measures taken by India in the past few months including the
- COVID-19 Information Exchange Platform (COINEX)
- SAARC Food Bank mechanism
- SAARC COVID-19 Emergency Fund, to which India has contributed $10 million, making essential drugs, COVID protection and testing kits, amounting to $ 2.3 million available to countries in the SAARC region.
About SAARC
- South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.
- SAARC comprises of eight Member States: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
- The Secretariat of the Association was set up in Kathmandu on 17 January 1987.
- Aims to promote the welfare of the peoples of South Asia, improve their quality of life, to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development.
Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA)
- CICA) is a multi-national forum for enhancing cooperation towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia.
- The idea of convening the CICA was first proposed by the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan at the 47th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
- The Secretariat comprises of Executive Director nominated by the Chairing country and Deputy Executive Director and Professional Personnel seconded by the Member States.
- It has 27 Member states Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India
Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam
Source : The Hindu
Topic
GS II : Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
Current Affairs Compilation : 25 September 2020