8th SAARC Economic Cooperation Conference held in New Delhi, 1996

From the archive record

The eighth summit was held in New Delhi, on 19 - 21 November 1996, and was attended by the presidents of the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the prime ministers of Bangladesh, India and Nepal, and the king of Bhutan. It is a symbol that represents a massive grouping of seven South Asian nations trying to stand together as a regional giant sharing a common heritage and a diversity of culture. An order founded on the basic premise that basic economic cooperation and trade among these nations is the best answer in the world getting increasingly polarised into regional blocks. SAARC economic cooperation conference inaugurated this week by the Prime Minister of India, Mr H. D. Deve Gowda only served to highlight the imperative of strengthening SAARC as free trade and economic zone which boast