SAARC energy ministers discuss regional coop in city today

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SAARC Energy Ministers are meeting in the city today (Thursday) in a bid to build up consensus on regional energy trade and introducing a regional power grid, reports UNB. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the 4th SAARC Energy Ministers' conference at a city hotel. Energy Ministers of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan will attend the meeting while senior officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Maldives will attend it on behalf of their respective ministers. Ahead of the conference, senior energy officials of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries had a meeting Wednesday that finalised the agenda of the ministerial conference. Officials close to the meeting said a number of agenda, including SAARC regional energy trade, framework agreement for cooperation and regional power exchange, will dominate the conference. Bangladesh will move for arranging bilateral meetings with India, Nepal and Bhutan on the sideline of the conference. "The main target of Bangladesh with big neighbour India will be to address the issues remained unresolved in a proposed deal for import of 250MW electricity from India," said an official requesting anonymity. He said Bangladesh will try to convince India so that she would allow Dhaka to set power plants in Nepal and Bhutan and import electricity from those countries. The meeting sources further said they prepared a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for signing by the countries for having a regional cooperation in power and energy sector. Islamabad-based SAARC Energy Centre will place a report on its last two years' activities in the region in the meeting.