In the spirit of solidarity and mutual cooperation, SAARC Member States agreed to establish a SAARC Food Security Reserve in 1987 during the Third SAARC Summit (Kathmandu, 1987) with an objective to provide a reserve of food grains for meeting Food emergencies in member countries. The initial size of the reserve was 199,800 MTs which was enhanced to 241,580 MTs in 2002. The present reserve is at 483,160 MT which was revised in 2003.
This noble initiative, gave rise to the present SAARC Food Bank which was decided by the 12th SAARC Summit (Islamabad, 4-6 January 2004). The Concept Paper on the establishment of a SAARC Regional Food Bank was presented by India in the 3rd TCARD (New Delhi, 18-19 September 2006). The Agreement was signed by the 14th SAARC Summit (New Delhi, 3-4 April 2007) and came into operation since October 2008. On completion of the ratification and notification of the Secretariat, the Agreement entered into force on 7 January 2013.
So far nine meetings of the SAARC Food Bank board meeting have been convened.