Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Monday, urged the SAARC Secretariat to intensify its efforts to make the regional body more functional for the collective benefit of South Asian countries.

He made this call during a meeting with SAARC Secretary General Golam Sarwar, who visited him at his office in Tejgaon, Dhaka.

‘SAARC is a forgotten word. If you can revitalise it, this will give dividend to the people of the whole region,’ said the Chief Adviser.

Secretary General Sarwar expressed his gratitude to Professor Yunus for his strong support of SAARC and mentioned that they were inspired by his recent call to South Asian leaders for the revival of the multilateral body.

He also briefed the Chief Adviser on SAARC’s ongoing activities at the working level, including initiatives by the Programming Committee, Governing Bodies of Regional Centres and Specialized Bodies, and events focused on climate change, SDGs, regional integration, and customs cooperation, among others.

He said that in the absence of high-level meetings, the functional initiatives were not getting adequate strength and clarity.

Professor Yunus and the SAARC Secretary General discussed the need for meetings of foreign secretaries, foreign ministers, and other sectoral ministers, and even the summit of the leaders for better functioning of the body.

‘We have partnerships with a lot of organizations. We are trying to explore those,’ said SAARC Secretary General.

Professor Yunus urged Secretary General Sarwar to focus on multilateral issues, such as facilitating the export of hydroelectric power from Nepal to neighboring countries like Bangladesh, India and Bhutan.

Additionally, he invited young people from SAARC countries to participate in the youth festival to be held in Bangladesh in January.

‘This will be good because this focuses on youth. The whole SAARC idea is to bring people together. This could be one way of opening the door,’ Professor Yunus said.

This year, SAARC celebrates its historic 40th Charter Day. The SAARC Secretary General requested continued support and guidance from the Government of Bangladesh to reinvigorate the SAARC process and achieve the association’s charter objectives.