South Asian leaders voiced concern about terrorism in the region today, Saturday, at the annual summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
The leaders are also discussing trade, poverty alleviation, food security and energy shortfalls during their two-day meeting in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo. Speaking at the summit's opening, Pakistan's prime minister and the president of Afghanistan separately said that nations must jointly battle terrorism.
SAARC member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.They are expected to sign a mutual cooperation agreement to share information about terrorists on Sunday.
Also on Saturday, the prime ministers of India and Pakistan met on the summit's sidelines to discuss rising tensions that threaten the peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
India's foreign secretary, Shivshankar Menon told reporters that Pakistan's prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilaniagreed to investigate India's claims that Pakistani intelligence was involved in last month's Indian embassy bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan.
About 60 people, including two Indian diplomats, were killed in that attack. Pakistan has denied involvement. Indian-Pakistani relations also have been strained by clashes along the disputed Kashmir border.