India plans to hold Saarc countries' startup meet?

New Delhi: Has India still not given up on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) despite its virtual paralysis on the account of Pakistan’s support to terror?

Despite New Delhi and a few other south Asian nations boycotting the then proposed Saarc Summit that had to be held in Islamabad in 2016, India is apparently planning to organise a meet of startups of the South Asian region for an exchange of new ideas and promoting interaction among them.

Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman was quoted by news agencies on Monday as saying, “I will be working towards having a Saarc country meet for startups. There are so many complementarities among us in the South Asian region.” She said the event can act as a platform for exchanging, which can be mutually beneficial and can be worked out.

She asked startups to give ideas about the people who can be invited for the meet. The Saarc nation members include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Smaller Saarc countries like Sri Lanka have openly expressed concerned in the past few months about the virtual comatose state of Saarc, with Colombo saying last year that it may look for other options in case things don’t change.

But Pakistan is adamant that the next Saarc summit should be held in Islamabad, after the proposed summit there was cancelled last year.