The sixth meeting of the finance ministries from the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation ( Saarc) countries began in Colombo on Friday.
Finance ministries from Bangladesh Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives and Afghanistan jointly inaugurated the meeting.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith left here for Sri Lanka to attend the meeting. Muhit is being accompanied by Finance Secretary Fazle Kabir and Deputy Secretary of Finance Division Hasan Khaled Foisal.
Muhith is likely to present Bangladesh’s position on the issue of common or parallel currency for Saarc countries at the meeting.
He will also attend the governing body meeting of Saarc Development Fund on the sidelines of the meet.
On the opening day, International Monitoring Assistance and Finance and Planning Deputy Minister of the host country Sri Lanka, Dr Sarath Amunugama, stressed the need of unity among the Saarc members to strengthen the existing mutual relations, international media reports.
Saarc Secretary General Ahmed Saleem argued that the Saarc members should review the financial activities of the respective countries in view of changes in the global economy.
The meeting is expected to seek ways for promoting long term financial capital investment in the South Asia. Similarly, the meeting shall finalise the draft related to investment promotion and security.
Besides, the meeting will focus on the discussions about how to keep South Asia safe from the global economic crisis.
Meanwhile, the finance ministers from all the eight Saarc countries met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today.
The Sri Lankan President emphasised the common voice of the Saarc countries at international forums.
The Saarc future course of action should focus on uplifting the living standards of the people of the region, he said.
Source: UNBConnect
