SAARC fund tops foreign ministers' agenda in Delhi
Saturday, 8 December 2007
NEW DELHI, Dec 7 (bdnews24.com): The two-day SAARC foreign ministers' meeting, beginning Friday in the Indian capital New Delhi, will focus largely on creating of a fund aimed at poverty alleviation and infrastructure development as well as prospects of starting a South Asian Development Bank.
The proposed SAARC Development Fund would have three windows. The Social Window, with an initial corpus of US$300 million (30 crore), is planned to fund, among others, poverty alleviation programmes and projects.
Through the Infrastructure Window, funds would be mobilised, from within and beyond the region, to finance infrastructure projects.
The Economic Window, which is expected to be professionally managed, would fund other non-infrastructure commercial projects.
To be eligible for the fund, each project must find acceptance in at least two member-states. India has committed to provide $ 100 million to the fund while Nepal will have to cough up $ 35 million.
An agreement on the SAARC Development Fund could not be reached at the SAARC Summit earlier this year because of differences over which country will contribute how much.
The meet will also review progress on various other proposals, including setting up of a tele-medicine network, a SAARC University and a SAARC Food Bank.
Another report adds: Improving regional connectivity seems to be the mantra at the ongoing SAARC foreign ministers' meet.
Foreign ministers of SAARC nations will also consider taking up work on seven intra-regional transport projects to move SAARC "from the declaratory phase to the implementation phase," according to Indian foreign secretary Shivshanker Menon.
Connectivity will be the main theme of the inter-summit meeting, Menon said.
The projects include ferry services connecting Colombo, Kochi and Tuticorin, a rail corridor between Chennai and Colombo, Agartala-Chittagong and Kathmandu-Kolkata road corridors and extending the rail link on the border with Bhutan.
The inter-linking proposals include launch of direct air service between Delhi and Islamabad.
The meet would also consider applications by Mauritius and Australia for enrolment as observers to the eight-nation grouping, which already has six observers in the European Union, China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the US and Iran.
Tehran was the latest addition at the previous SAARC summit held in New Delhi earlier this year.
During the meeting, foreign ministers will discuss ways to implement various conventions on combating terrorism.
The proposed SAARC Development Fund would have three windows. The Social Window, with an initial corpus of US$300 million (30 crore), is planned to fund, among others, poverty alleviation programmes and projects.
Through the Infrastructure Window, funds would be mobilised, from within and beyond the region, to finance infrastructure projects.
The Economic Window, which is expected to be professionally managed, would fund other non-infrastructure commercial projects.
To be eligible for the fund, each project must find acceptance in at least two member-states. India has committed to provide $ 100 million to the fund while Nepal will have to cough up $ 35 million.
An agreement on the SAARC Development Fund could not be reached at the SAARC Summit earlier this year because of differences over which country will contribute how much.
The meet will also review progress on various other proposals, including setting up of a tele-medicine network, a SAARC University and a SAARC Food Bank.
Another report adds: Improving regional connectivity seems to be the mantra at the ongoing SAARC foreign ministers' meet.
Foreign ministers of SAARC nations will also consider taking up work on seven intra-regional transport projects to move SAARC "from the declaratory phase to the implementation phase," according to Indian foreign secretary Shivshanker Menon.
Connectivity will be the main theme of the inter-summit meeting, Menon said.
The projects include ferry services connecting Colombo, Kochi and Tuticorin, a rail corridor between Chennai and Colombo, Agartala-Chittagong and Kathmandu-Kolkata road corridors and extending the rail link on the border with Bhutan.
The inter-linking proposals include launch of direct air service between Delhi and Islamabad.
The meet would also consider applications by Mauritius and Australia for enrolment as observers to the eight-nation grouping, which already has six observers in the European Union, China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, the US and Iran.
Tehran was the latest addition at the previous SAARC summit held in New Delhi earlier this year.
During the meeting, foreign ministers will discuss ways to implement various conventions on combating terrorism.