The President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, His Excellency Mr. Hamid Karzai; the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina; the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan, His Excellency Lyonchhen Jigmi Yoeser Thinley; the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, His Excellency Dr. Manmohan Singh; the President of the Republic of Maldives, His Excellency Mr. Mohamed Nasheed; the Prime Minister of Nepal, His Excellency Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal; the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, His Excellency Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani; and the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, His Excellency Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, met in Thimphu, Bhutan, on 28-29 April 2010 for the Sixteenth Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

In the joint declaration issued at the end of this meeting, following statement about the South Asian University was included:

“The Leaders took note of the Reports of the Steering Committee of the South Asian University, and appreciated the progress being made towards establishing the University. They also underscored the importance of establishing regional campuses of the South Asian University. They appreciated the announcement of the CEO of the SAU project office to initialize the first academic session of the University with effect from August 2010. Further they asked the Steering Committee to work towards finalizing the modalities of the University.”