Why SAARC Shifted To Colombo?

(March 11, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) “The 15th SAARC Summit and its preceding meetings will be held in Colombo from 27th July to 3rd August 2008. The venue for the Summit meetings will be the BMICH in Colombo. Colombo city hotels have been identified to accommodate around 1200 delegates and media personnel associated with the event,” Foreign Ministry in Colombo said in a press statement

According to the Statement, “the shifting of the venue from Kandy to Colombo has been done due to inadequate infrastructure facilities to accommodate the seven Heads of state, their respective delegations and the large international and regional media contingent. Kandy is being retained as the venue for events associated with the Summit such as the SAARC Cultural Festival, SAARC Youth Forum, SAARC Folklore Congress, activities in the field of trade and investment etc, which will be held for a period of eight days parallel to the Summit meeting. In this regard infrastructure facilities in Kandy such as repairing of the venues and upgrading of roads will be continued as planned. The regional and local participants and performers will be accommodated in the Kandy city hotels.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in close coordination with the line Ministries and agencies is in the process of finalizing the budget estimates to host the 15th SAARC Summit, preceding meetings and associated events in Colombo and Kandy.

- Sri Lanka Guardian