New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS): The SAARC cultural festival here concluded Sunday with felicitation of 105 visiting artistes even as it sent out a strong message of fostering strong cultural engagements among the eight-member group.

Cultural performances, a workshop and an exhibition comprised the three-day South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Cultural Festival on "Traditional Dance of South Asia" at Sangeet Natak Akademi.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, SAARC Cultural Centre director G.L.W Samarasinghe said cultural exchanges like these will strengthen "regional cooperation".

"The conservation of intangible cultural heritage will get a great boost with these cultural exchanges," he said.

"Events like these are a good platform to nurture people-top-people relationship," he added.

The SAARC members comprise of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

It was after eight years, SAARC cultural ministers were meeting and together they adopted the Delhi resolution as a roadmap for the 2014-17 period to foster ties and preserve and promote cultural institutions.

They also declared 2016-17 as the "SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage" and Bamiyan town in Afghanistan as the "SAARC Cultural Capital" for 2015-16.

Besides, the members also agreed to have a SAARC Heritage Committee to preserve and conserve heritage sites not protected by Unesco.