His Majesty The King granted an Audience to the Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Amjad Hussian B Sial at the Tashichhodzong yesterday.

The secretary general, who is on an introductory visit to Bhutan from April 25-28 also called on the foreign minister Damcho Dorji and met the foreign secretary Sonam Tshong. During the meetings, both the foreign minister and the secretary extended a warm welcome and congratulated him on his appointment as the new secretary general of SAARC.

They expressed confidence in taking the SAARC process forward under his leadership and reaffirmed the Royal Government’s commitment and support to further consolidating regional cooperation and deepening friendship among the SAARC member states. Views on various activities relating to SAARC and the need to keep the process moving forward were also exchanged during the meetings.

The secretary general also made a familiarisation visit to the Secretariat of the SAARC Development Fund (SDF) in Thimphu on April 25.

Amjad Hussian B Sial is from Pakistan and succeeded Arjun B Thapa from Nepal. He assumed office as the secretary general of SAARC on March 1, 2017. The director at the SAARC secretariat Sangye Rinchhen accompanied the secretary general.

Staff reporter

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