SaaRC Secretary General pays courtesy call on UN Secretary General

Kathmandu, April 10: Secretary General of SAARC, Ambassador Golam Sarwar, undertook an official visit to the United States and paid a courtesy call on António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 8.

At the outset, SecretaryGeneral Guterres welcomed Ambassador Sarwar and expressed the desire of the United Nations to strengthen cooperation with SAARC, which represents the “Large Chunk of Global Population”.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Sarwar appreciated the UN Secretary-General for the United Nations’ steadfast commitment and support to SAARC, which has been an observer organization of the United Nations since 2004.

The visiting Secretary General of SAARC had extensive discussions on further strengthening relations between SAARC and the United Nations in multiple areas of mutual interest, especially climate change, food security, and renewable energy collaborations.

While highlighting that SAARC has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with UN agencies including UNDP, FAO, UNEP, UNISDR, UNESCAP, UNTAD, UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO, UNAIDS, UNFPA and UNWOMEN,

Ambassador Sarwar further stated that several of these MoUs need to be updated taking the present context into account. order to augment the existing ties between the two parties.

Given the potential of reinforcing project-based collaboration between both organizations, Ambassador Sarwar proposed a joint meeting of the SAARC Secretariat and the UN agencies in Kathmandu at the SAARC Secretariat, shortly followed by a brainstorming session to identify forthcoming areas for further collaboration. Welcoming the proposal, Secretary-General Guterres emphasized the elevation of cooperation between SAARC and the United

Nations. He also instantly instructed his office to connect the SAARC Secretariat with relevant officials of the United Nations Headquarters for the sake of effective sectoral cooperation.

To boost the effectiveness and sustainability of the Secretariat, Ambassador Sarwar explored avenues for capacity-building opportunities for the officials of the SAARC Secretariat.

Secretary General Guterres assured continued UN support and assistance toward SAARC and both dignitaries, during the meeting, agreed to work closely to further enhance the existing ties between SAARC and UN in the coming years.