Greetings!

My wishes to you all on the momentous occasion of the 36^th SAARC Charter Day. It was on this very day in 1985 that the SAARC Charter was signed by the members nations paving the way for the creation of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

South Asian University commemorates this historic day every year since 2014. Distinguished leaders, top-notched academicians and thought leaders have graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. For reasons that are understandable to all, we are not commemorating SAARC Charter Day in our campus but in spirit we are observing the day in our hearts.

We have had the tradition of a Faculty among the five that we have in SAU leading in organizing the event on a rotational basis. I particularly remember when the Faculty of Mathmatics and Computer Science took the lead in 2018 where we had a very interesting panel discussion on the topic ‘Mathematics Spans All Directions’ with eminent figures from all walks of life sharing their relations and how mathematics plays a role in their chosen fields.

Although we could not observe the SAARC Charter Day in similar fashion as we did in the previous years, I would like to reiterate the importance of cooperation, on the basis of which the regional organization and for that matter our University was founded. We have been running successfully for a decade and growing. We could not have achieved this without the cooperation of all stakeholders – the member states, the decision-making bodies of the University, the Students, the Faculty and Staff of the South Asian University.

We have made impressive progress with the construction of our permanent campus and if everything goes well we should start shifting to the new campus by next year.

I once again wish you all on the occasion of the 36^th SAARC Charter Day. May our bonds become stronger!

Prof. Ranjan Kumar Mohanty