SAARC debates SARS virus

SAARC debates SARS virus

COLOMBO: Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom will open an
emergency meeting of South Asian ministers on Tuesday to decide
on collective action on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS),
his office said.

Ministers of the seven-member South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) have been invited to the Maldives
for a meeting to hammer out a common strategy to deal with the
problem.

SAARC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The Indian ocean atoll nation of the Maldives depends heavily
on tourism.

The threat of SARS has crippled tourism in Southeast Asia.
--AFP