Ambassador Golam Sarwar, Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and his wife Taslima Sarwar hosted a Reception to celebrate the Thirty-ninth Charter Day of SAARC at Hotel Radisson, Kathmandu.

Ramsahay Prasad Yadav, Vice President of Nepal, graced the occasion with his presence as the Chief Guest. Among the guests present at the commemorative event were Former Prime Minister, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers, State Ministers, high-ranking officials from the Supreme Court, Constitutional Bodies, Government Officials, Security Agencies, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, including SAARC's Observer Missions, representatives of civil society and business community, media personnel and people from all walks of life.

Heads of State/Governments of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka issued special messages to commemorate this historic day. Addressing the reception, Ambassador Sarwar stated that since its establishment, SAARC has made steady progress in several agreed areas of cooperation, including poverty alleviation, which has been described by the SAARC Leaders as the over-arching goal of SAARC.

He also briefly reviewed the progress of SAARC during 2023 including the ongoing programs supported by ADB, UNESCAP, UNICEF, the Government of Japan, the Government of Republic of Korea, which are going on full swings, and the activities of Regional Centres and the Specialized Bodies of SAARC located in the member countries.

He expressed his optimism to further accelerate the activities of SAARC in the coming years. The function hosted by the Secretary General of SAARC included a live cultural performance of dances from the eight member states, depicting their rich cultural heritage.

It may be mentioned that the Heads of State or Governments of seven South Asian countries launched SAARC by adopting its Charter at the First Summit held in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 08 December 1985 and thereby created the largest regional organization having more than one-quarter of the global population. Since then, 08 December every year is observed as the SAARC Charter Day across the South Asia Region.