Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has extended invitation to his counterparts in South Asian countries to attend the 8th Finance Ministers Meeting of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), scheduled to be held in Islamabad on August 26 this year.
In letters addressed to the finance ministers of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the minister said that since the last meeting held in Kathmandu in August last year, considerable progress has been achieved in finance and investment related areas.
At the same time, he said, certain other areas related to the SAARC Development Fund (SDF) require further deliberations and follow up action.
The minister said that that participation of all the members will be helpful in achieving the objectives for which SAARC has been striving since its creation.
It may be recalled that the SAARC Summit is scheduled to be held in Pakistan in November 2016.
The Finance Ministers’ meeting will precede the summit and lay the ground work for progress on regional cooperation agenda in the areas of finance and investment to be subsequently endorsed by heads of states and governments at the summit.