Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav on behalf of the government of Nepal and Secretary General Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed on behalf of the SAARC signed an agreement to this effect amidst a special function held at Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).[break]
Nepal hosts two of the total 11 regional centers of SAARC. There had not been Headquarters Agreement, which is also known as host country agreement, even as SAARC Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS Center and SAARC Information Centre began operating from Nepal since 1992 and 2005 respectively.
Headquarters Agreement of SAARC regulates the special relationship between the SAARC and the member states in their capacity as the Host Country for SAARC Regional Centers. It provides for the facilitation of the operations of the Regional Centers, and the privileges and immunities of persons involved in the work of the Centers.
Officials at MoFA said the lack of Headquarters Agreement had posed difficulties in providing immunities and privileges, including in taxes, as provisioned for SAARC regional offices in various member states. “The Headquarters Agreement will help us do away with the problems,” said Joint Secretary Hari Kumar Shrestha, who heads SAARC Division at the MoFA.
Established in Kathmandu in accordance with the decision of the fifth SAARC Summit held in Male in 1990, the SAARC Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS Center works for the prevention and control of TB and HIV related TB in the region by coordinating efforts of the national tuberculosis control programs of the SAARC member states. It has also been mandated to work for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS in the region.
Likewise, the SAARC Information Center established in Kathmandu in pursuance with the decision of the 10th SAARC Summit held in Colombo in 1998 is serving as hub for information collection and dissemination of various SAARC activities.
The center aims to work as an information bank of SAARC and its member countries and to forge strong intra-regional links for cooperation and collaboration among the media of SAARC countries.
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