The idea is to promote and exchange science and technology among the SAARC countries.

The work has been entrusted to the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad (IIIT-A), which is already setting up an Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) — India Science and Technology (S&T) digital library.

The decision was taken in a high-level meeting attended by senior officers of Ministry of Information Technology, Ministry of External Affairs and HRD ministry meeting on September 18.

The proposed SAARC—S&T digital library will be in accordance to the Preamble of SAARC, which advocates educational and cultural exchange among the member countries. “The member countries have already agreed on issues like sharing and safeguarding the   expertise and traditional knowledge. The premiers and ministers of the SAARC countries have expressed their willingness for cooperating in this direction,” said sources.

After several rounds of meetings, the IIIT-A was selected as theresource institution for the project, said Dr M D Tiwari, Director, IIIT-A.

“In a thousand years, only a few of the paper documents that we have today will survive the outright destruction. With no more than 10 million unique books and document editions before the year 1900, and perhaps 100 million since the beginning of recorded history, the task of preservation has become much larger,” said Tiwari.