New Delhi, Jun 1 (PTI) Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood today expressed hope that SAARC would continue to move forward and help the South Asian people in realising their vision for socio-economic development.

Mahmood, while visiting the South Asian University (SAU) here, emphasised the SAARC's role as the primary platform for regional cooperation.

He affirmed Pakistan's commitment to further strengthening its relationship with the South Asia University and advancing mutually-beneficial collaboration in the field of higher education in future.

The envoy expressed hope that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) process would continue to move forward and help the South Asian people realise their collective vision for socio-economic development, a Pakistan High Commission statement said.

During his visit to the university, the Pakistani envoy had a fruitful exchange of views with SAU's president Kavita A Sharma, the statement said.

The high commissioner also underlined the interest of Pakistani students in pursuing higher studies at the university and highlighted the importance of the university's facilitative role in this context.

The university was established jointly by the eight SAARC member-states - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

An agreement for the establishment of the university was signed during the 14th SAARC Summit in New Delhi in 2007. The university began taking students in August 2010.

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