Narendra Modi pitches for strong SAARC with Rajapaksa, Hasina and Koirala

Furthering his ‘neighbourhood first’ policy, prime minister Narendra Modi held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Bangladesh and Nepal and Sri Lankan President and discussed matters of common concern, including terrorism, while affirming his commitment to make SAARC a strong regional block.

During the meetings, Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Nepal prime minister Sushil Koirala congratulated Modi on his first UN speech and promised full support for his initiative of having an International Yoga Day.

Modi reaffirmed his commitment to make the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) a strong regional block.

The three leaders also said that they were looking forward to Modi’s visit to their respective countries, including for the SAARC summit in Nepal later this year.

Modi told Koirala that he was looking forward to visit Nepal and said he would like to go to Janakpur and Lumbini, the birthplaces of Sita and Lord Buddha, respectively.

The prime minister also enquired about the status of bilateral projects he had announced during his Nepal trip. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said Modi in his meetings with the three neighbouring leaders discussed various other issues of common concerns for SAARC block and reiterated his commitment to ‘neighbours first’ policy.