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