Colombo/New Delhi: Sri Lanka on Friday expressed its unwillingness to attend the upcoming SAARC Summit in Islamabad, saying the prevailing environment in the region is not conducive for holding the summit.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo, in a statement, said that the SAARC Charter requires that decisions at all levels are taken on the basis of unanimity, and this applies to the convening of meetings of Heads of State or Government of SAARC Member States as well.
"Peace and security are essential elements for the success of meaningful regional cooperation for the benefit of the people of South Asia. As a founding member of SAARC, committed to regional cooperation, Sri Lanka hopes that the steps required to ensuring our region's peace and security will be taken to create an environment that is conducive for the pursuit of regional cooperation," it said.
Sri Lanka condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stresses in this regard, the need to deal with the issue of terrorism in the region in a decisive manner, the statement said.
Sri Lanka's unwillingness to attend comes three days after India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan wrote to Nepal the current Chair of SAARC, conveying they are pulling out of the SAARC Summit, citing rising terrorism in the region.
With this, five members of the eight-member South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation have pulled out of the summit.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo, in a statement, said that the SAARC Charter requires that decisions at all levels are taken on the basis of unanimity, and this applies to the convening of meetings of Heads of State or Government of SAARC Member States as well.
"Peace and security are essential elements for the success of meaningful regional cooperation for the benefit of the people of South Asia. As a founding member of SAARC, committed to regional cooperation, Sri Lanka hopes that the steps required to ensuring our region's peace and security will be taken to create an environment that is conducive for the pursuit of regional cooperation," it said.
Sri Lanka's unwillingness to attend comes three days after India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan wrote to Nepal the current Chair of SAARC, conveying they are pulling out of the SAARC Summit, citing rising terrorism in the region.
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Why Shubman Gill, And Not Hardik Pandya, Was Made Vice-Captain For T20Is vs Sri Lanka - Explained Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja Out Of ODIs: The 'Gautam Gambhir Factor' Behind Team Selection On Past Conflicts With Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli's Clear Message To BCCI Windows Computers Lead To 'Blue Screen Of Death' Due To CrowdStrike Error In 1st Statement After Outage, CrowdStrike CEO Says... Massive Worldwide Microsoft Outage: Flights, Markets, Stock Exchange Down Woman Says Jindal Group Executive Groped Her On Flight, Naveen Jindal Reacts How World Scrambled To Deal With One Of The Biggest IT Crashes: 10 Points Fighting And Kisses: 5 Big Takeaways From Trump's Speech Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.