The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) officially launched its artist camp and 7th Silk Road Festival in central Bamiyan province on Monday.

A large crowd of Afghan and foreign guests were present at the event which was declared as SAARC's Cultural Capital for 2015 by the organization in June.

The SAARC festival which includes cultural programs, arts camps, the Silk Road festival, a film festival, a local food festival and handicrafts exhibition, will continue for five days.

Tahir Zahir, the Provincial Governor urged SAARC members to name Bamiyan as the permanent host for its meetings and events.

"We call on SAARC countries to not forget Bamiyan and to accept this city as the secretariat of this organization and deliver messages of peace, friendship and historical civilization of this ancient province to their members," Zahir said.

He went on to say that the "opening of this festival will improve relations between countries which are members of SAARC and we hope that by the end of this festival the members of SAARC announce their opinion [on future events]."

SAARC was established in 1985 aimed at promoting the economy, the collective self-reliance among countries in South Asia, and to accelerate socio-cultural development in the region.

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal are members of SAARC and Afghanistan became a member in 2007.

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