Leaders of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at the concluding ceremony of its 15th Summit in Colombo yesterday issued a special ‘Colombo Statement on Food Security’, pledging action to ensure region-wide food security and make South Asia, once again, the granary of the world.

A special Colombo statement on food security declared that the leaders participating in the 15th SAARC summit have affirmed their resolve.

'In view of the emerging global situation of reduced food availability and worldwide rise in food prices, we direct that an Extra-ordinary Meeting of the Agriculture Ministers of the SAARC Member States be convened in New Delhi, India, in November 2008, to evolve and implement a people-centred, short- to medium-term regional strategy and collaborative projects,' it said.

They also directed that the SAARC Food Bank be urgently operationalised. “We further direct that SAARC region should forge greater cooperation with the international community to ensure food availability and nutrition security in South Asia,” the statement said.

Four major agreements - the SAARC development fund, the establishment of a SAARC standard organization, the SAARC convention on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, and the protocol on Afghanistan's admission to the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) - were adopted at the Colombo summit.