Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reiterated his country’s desire to revive South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and signalled its readiness to contribute towards that end. the revival of the seemingly dead eight-member regional bloc. In a tweet posted to mark SAARC Charter Day, Sharif said the people of South Asia had suffered because of “missed opportunities” for regional development, connectivity and cooperation. Pakistan is “ready to play its part for the revival of SAARC”, he said. Islamabad was to host the SAARC summit in November 2016 but because of tensions between India and Pakistan, New Delhi boycotted the conference. Since then the summit could not take place as under the SAARC charter meeting of the heads of government cannot be held if any member stays away. The last summit was held in Nepal in 2014.
