o agreement is meant to be an overarching cooperative scheme that aims to address broad issues such as the enabling of cross border trade in electricity, the development of a common regulatory mechanism and the waiving of customs fees

♤ 18th summit decided to close down three regional centres, namely the SAARC Documentation Centre (SDC) in New Delhi, SAARC Human Resource Development Centre (SHRDC) in Islamabad and SAARC Information Centre (SIC) in Kathmandu and transfer their mandates to the secretariat and other mechanisms.

♤ it also decided to merge four regional centres, namely the SAARC Coastal Zone Management Centre (SCZMC), SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC), SAARC Forestry Centre (SFC) and SAARC Disaster Management Centre (SDMC), and create a new centre named ‘SAARC Environment and Disaster Management Centre’ (SEDMC).

♤ Against the backdrop that only 18 summits could be held in the last 29 years - although the SAARC Charter mandates the regional body to meet every year - this time the regional leaders decided to hold the summit every two years.