Finance ministers from the South Asian nations are scheduled to meet in New Delhi, India on Sept. 14 for operationalizing the 300 million U.S. dollars South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Development Fund (SDF) , The Himalayan Times reported on Thursday.
According to the daily, the fund was created because the members of the SAARC had pledged to support projects to alleviate poverty and improve the status of the peoples of the region in 2005.
The Delhi meeting, to be preceded by a meeting of the finance secretaries of member nations on Sept. 13, will mainly focus on finalizing the recommendations on the charter and by-laws of the fund, financial issues related to the roadmap of the SAARC Economic Union and development of the regional capital market, the officials at the Nepali ministry of finance said.
The SDF, the first-ever umbrella fund under the regional bloc, did not come into effect due to the reservations of a member country, which argued that it should not allow actors outside the region to be associated with the funding process.
Experts comprising officials of finance and foreign ministries as well as the concerned government agencies will meet in Kathmandu on Aug. 21-22 to finalize their recommendations on the SDF's charter and by-laws, according to the report.
A separate experts' group is also scheduled to meet in Kathmandu on Aug. 24-25 for the recommendations on greater economic integration that will help form the SAARC Economic Union, an official at the ministry of foreign affairs told the daily.
SAARC Secretariat has already issued a circular inviting all member countries for the experts' group meeting in order to kick- start the process of the fund, which has already been delayed due to dispute between "powerful member" countries.
Meanwhile, a finance ministry official said that the Aug. 24-25 meeting would come up with their recommendations on investment promotion, service sector development and formation of a regional customs union.
In 2005, the SAARC countries have decided to reconstitute the existing South Asian Development Fund and establish a SAARC Development Fund, an umbrella organization for all SAARC development funding.
Founded in 1985, the SAARC includes Bhutan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. China, Japan, South Korea, the United States and the European Union are observers of the organization.
Source: Xinhua
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