ISLAMABAD (Staff Report) – The two-day South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Finance Ministers’ Conference is set to start in Islamabad on Thursday.
The meeting is set to discuss cooperation in different sectors of the regional economy and the proposed South Asia-Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The representatives of SAARC nations will also devise a mechanism for the promotion of regional trade.
Pakistani Finance Minister Ishaq Dar will preside over the meeting. Meanwhile, media reports suggest that Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will not be attending the meeting.
The meeting is a part of preparations for the forthcoming annual SAARC Summit, which is scheduled to be held in November in Islamabad.
Earlier this month, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh had arrived in Islamabad to attend the SAARC Interior Ministers Conference. His visit ended in Pak-Indian hostilities as the two countries used the SAARC platform to accuse each other over the ongoing violence in Indian-held Kashmir.
