KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal inaugurated the SAARC Effectiveness Conference here on Thursday.

Parliamentarians, politicians, diplomats and journalists from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Afghanistan and Pakistan besides Nepal will deliberate on how the effectiveness of South Asian Association for Regional Conference (SAARC) could be enhanced at international level.

Organised by the International Relations and Labour Committee under the Legislature-Parliament for the first time, some seven working papers on different five themes would be presented during the two-day event.

Nepal had chaired the regional body from the 18th SAARC Summit which was organised in Kathmandu in 2014. The 19th SAARC Summit is to be held in Islamabad of Pakistan.

Five former deputy Prime Ministers of Nepal—Sujata Koirala, Bhim Rawal, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Kamal Thapa and Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar—would chair the five different presentation sessions during the conference.

The conclusion drawn by the conference will be presented at the forthcoming SAARC Summit.