The 15th SAARC Summit was held in Colombo on 2-3 August 2008. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh visited Colombo for the Summit, during which delegation-level talks between India and Sri Lanka were held as well.          

1. The SAARC Council of Ministers was held on 31 July- 1 August 2008, which was attended by the External Affairs Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee. Meetings of the Programming Committee (27-28 July 2008) and Standing Committee (29-30 July 2008) preceded the SAARC Council of Ministers.
   
2. SAARC Summit is making progress by moving from a phase of framing ideas and proposals to concrete implementation. At the 14th Summit in New Delhi two important Agreements on the establishment of South Asian University and SAARC Food Bank were signed. Four key issues of Development, were identified namely, Water (including flood control), Energy, Food & Environment. It was also agreed to enhance intra-regional connectivity by improving physical, economic and people-to-people contact.
3. In an effort to maintain the dynamism generated during the Summit India has always made a conscious effort to discharge its role in a non-reciprocal manner. India has finalised release of its voluntary contribution of US $ 100 million to the SAARC Development Fund (SDF) and has also released the first instalment of US $ 19.2 million to the SAARC Secretariat.
4. On SAFTA, Member Countries had welcomed India’s decision to give zero-duty access to LDCs from 1 January 2008 one year ahead of target date and unilateral reduction of its negative list with respect to LDCs. The Government of India has reiterated its continuing and consistent commitment to the SAARC process and towards enhancing prosperity of the SAARC region through social development and regional economic integration. To this effect, we have launched several hub and spoke projects with India acting as a hub in the crucial areas of health, education, infrastructure, food, environment, water and energy.
5. SAARC has moved from the stage of conceptualisation to actual implementation. An instance is the South Asian University, which we envision as a platform for interaction, free exchange of ideas, thoughts and shared learning among students in South Asia.
6. At the 15th Summit held under the Chairmanship of Sri Lanka the SAARC process was taken forward.  The 15th SAARC Summit welcomed Mauritius as the newest observer in SAARC and approved Australia and Myanmar’s request to be observers.  Four agreements were signed at the Summit. These are:

1. Charter of SAARC development fund: India voluntarily committed USD 100 million, in addition to is assessed contribution of USD 99 million. The Summit decided that the SAARC Development Fund Secretariat would be in Thimpu.
2. MOU establishing SAARC regional standards organisation in Bangladesh to harmonize standards in SAARC.
3. SAARC Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.  This enabling legal instrument provides for mutual legal assistance in investigations, prosecution and resulting proceedings in criminal matters including terrorism; and
4. Protocol on accession of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area.

The Leaders also issued a Colombo Statement on food security recognising the global situation of reduced food availability and increase in food prices, with the resolve to ensure region-wide food security and make South Asia once again the granary of the world.  It was agreed that the food bank will be put in operation immediately and that the SAARC agriculture perspective 2020 would be finalised expeditiously.  An extraordinary meeting of SAARC agriculture ministers is scheduled to be convened in India in November 2008.