Male (Maldives), Nov. 9 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, arrived here on Wednesday to participate in the 17th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit.
Dr. Singh will now board another flight for Gan, where the SAARC Summit is taking place.
Ahead of his departure to Maldives, the Prime Minister said that India will be promoting regional integration during the 17th SAARC Summit, which kick starts on Thursday in Maldives.
"India will work to promote greater integration as well as the development of a South Asian identity at the forthcoming summit," said Dr. Singh.
Agreements on implementation of regional standards, multilateral arrangements on recognition of conformity assessment, rapid response to natural disasters and establishment of a SAARC seed bank are also expected to be signed during the two-day summit in which eight head of states from South Asian nations will be participating.
India also expects measures on liberalizing trade during the meet.
"At SAARC we expect to move forward on the process of liberalization of trade under South Asian free trade area agreement," Dr. Singh said.
The Prime Minister will also be holding bilateral meetings with the SAARC heads of states.
He will be meeting his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani on Thursday at Gan Island in Maldives.
The 17th SAARC Summit takes place in Addu City, in the southern atolls of the Maldives, situated in the Southern Hemisphere. By Naveen Kapoor(ANI)
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