The two-day summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) ended here Wednesday with a joint declaration which has put much emphasis on the region's social and economic development.

In the eight-page, 30-paragraph declaration, more than 20 paragraphs have been devoted to development of the eight SAARC countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

With the welfare of the peoples of South Asia uppermost in their mind, the heads of state or government agreed to build a Partnership for Prosperity and work towards shared economic cooperation, regional prosperity, a better life for the people of South Asia, and equitable distribution of benefits and opportunities of integration among the peoples and the nations.

The summit agreed to operationalize the SAARC Development Fund, establish the South Asian University with its headquarters in India, create a SAARC Food Bank, and set up the SAARC Arbitration Council.

Those decisions on social and economic development have shown that the SAARC members are ready for a transformation of SAARC into an effective instrument of regional advancement.

In his closing speech at the 14th SAARC summit, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that SAARC's highest mandate was to make difference "the lives of the poorest of the poor and the weakest of the weak" to show the organization's firm resolve to alleviate poverty.

"To win this war, we must work together. We must resolve our differences, and we must enhance regional cooperation. We must also win the war against all forms of extremism and intolerance in our region," he stressed.

For intra-regional free trade, the SAARC summit stressed the need to develop, at an early date, a road map for a South Asian Customs Union and a South Asian Economic Union in a planned and phased manner.

Up to now, all SAARC countries have ratified the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement. The summit thus called for all members to ensure effective market access through smooth implementation of trade liberalization programs, stressing that the SAFTA should be implemented "in letter and spirit".

The SAARC countries also reaffirmed their commitment to a rule-based multilateral trading system. They called on all members of the World Trade Organization to show commitment for a successful conclusion of the Doha Round.

On fight against terrorism, the SAARC countries underlined that terrorism was a threat to peace and security in the region. They condemned the targeted killing of civilians and terrorist violence, in all its forms and manifestations, whenever and against whomsoever committed.

While urging continued efforts to combat terrorism, the SAARC summit also called for urgent conclusion of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

The summit welcomed China, Japan, the European Union, South Korea, and the United States to be associated as SAARC observers, saying that the region would benefit from these external linkages and help its economic integration with the international community.

The SAARC members also accepted Iran as a new observer.

The summit decided that the 15th SAARC summit would be held in the Maldives but no date has been set yet.

Editor: Yan