Sikkim Univ VC represents India at first meeting of South Asia Forum

GANGTOK, 05 May: The first meeting of the steering committee of the newly-created South Asia Forum concluded in New Delhi. The meeting decided to hold the first South Asia Forum Summit on the theme of “South Asian Economic Union” in September later this year, informs a press release.
Over 100 top business leaders, public figures, academics, politicians and representatives of civil society organizations are scheduled to participate in the summit.

According to a press release, the South Asia Forum Summit will now be an annual event held before the SAARC Summit. It will be organized in the pattern of  Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) based in China, the World Economic Forum (WEF) based in Davos, Switzerland and the Asia Pacific Roundtable (APR) based in Australia.
In the first South Asia Forum Steering Committee Meeting, India was represented by Founding Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University, Prof Mahendra P Lama and Additional Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Asoke Kumar Mukerji;  Bangladesh by its former Foreign Secretary and Bhutan by its former Home Minister, the release further informs.
The South Asia Forum was established by the heads of the state and governments of eight South Asian countries at the 16th SAARC Summit held at Thimphu, Bhutan in April 2010.