Maldives on Thursday (September 24), told Pakistan that it is “not an appropriate time to discuss the summit” amidst the COVID-19 crisis at the SAARC informal foreign ministers meet.
Plans to hold the 19th SAARC summit in Islamabad was on the agenda of the SAARC FMs virtual meet.
In his address, Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid called for a ‘conducive environment’ to reach consensus on holding the 19th SAARC Summit that is to be hosted by Islamabad.
Pakistan was supposed to host the summit in 2016 but has been kept on hold following India’s call to boycott the summit in the wake of the Uri terror attack that happened in the same year.
“At this point in time, we are preoccupied with dealing with COVID-19 pandemic and do not think it’s the appropriate time to discuss the time of the summit.”, Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid told.
For the last 4 years, Pakistan has been trying to host the summit but has failed in its attempt to bring consensus among the countries.