The Sixth Meeting of the Inter-Governmental Expert Group (IGEG) on Financial Issues was held at the SAARC Secretariat on 23-24 April 2013 under the chairmanship of Mr. C.J.P. Siriwardana, Assistant Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Colombo. It was attended by the representatives of Finance Ministries and Central Banks of SAARC Member States. Mr. Amrit Lugun, Director, Economic, Trade and Finance Division, SAARC Secretariat opened the Meeting on behalf of SAARC Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem as per SAARC practice.   The Meeting examined the SAARC Study on ‘Regional Economic Integration in SAARC, its current extent and recommendations for further deepening’ conducted with the assistance of Asian Development Bank. The Study dwells on the roadmap to South Asian Economic Union (SAEU).

2.         The Inter-Governmental Expert Group discussed matters relating to Public Debt Management; Development of Capital Market in South Asia;  Financial Inclusion - Access to financial services and credit to financially excluded sections of the society; Experiences of Financing for Infrastructural Development; Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing;  Harmonisation of fiscal and trade indicators; comparative performance of key economic indicators; sharing of experience and best practices in the financial sector;   greater flow of financial capital and intra-regional long-term investment.  The Meeting also reviewed the progress in the implementation of Swap Arrangement. The delegation of India informed the Meeting that the Swap Arrangement was announced on 16 May 2012 by the Governor of Reserve Bank of India in Pokhara, Nepal with a contribution of India of US$ 2 billion for SAARC countries. The first agreement under the swap arrangement was signed between Bhutan and India on 8 March 2013 for an amount of US$ 100 million for three years.    The Swap facility will further economic cooperation within the SAARC region, pave the way for increased intra-regional trade and contribute to enhancing the collective welfare of the region.

The Second Meeting of the SAARC Sectoral Technical Committee on Jute, Textiles and Leather was held in Dhaka on 17-18 April 2013 under the chairmanship of Dr. Syed Humayun Kabir, Director (Standards), Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), Dhaka. Mr. Md. Farhaduddin, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Industries, Government of Bangladesh inaugurated the Meeting. Mr. Iqbal Ahmed, Director (SAARC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Bangladesh also addressed the Inaugural Session. He welcomed the delegates and informed that the construction of SARSO building is underway and will become operational by January 2014. In his statement, Mr. Amrit Lugun, Director, SAARC Secretariat urged that Meetings of Sectoral Technical Committees should be held at regular intervals in order to expedite the process of harmonisation of standards of identified products.

The Eighth Meeting of the Committee of Heads of University Grants Commissions / Equivalent Bodies was held on 17 – 18 April 2013 in Kathmandu.

The meeting was inaugurated by Honorable Madhav Ghimire, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nepal on 17 April 2013 at Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur, Kathmandu. The inaugural ceremony was attended by H.E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem – Secretary General of SAARC, Senior Officials of the Government of Nepal and other distinguished invitees. Prof. Dr. Ganesh Man Gurung, Chairman of University Grants Commission of Nepal chaired the meeting.

All SAARC Member States participated in this annual meeting and matters related to benchmarking higher education standards among SAARC Member States, mutual recognition of professional degrees, achieving a common regional educational standard, quality assurance and accreditation mechanism, SAARC Chair Fellowship Scholarship Scheme and Open & Distance Learning and SAARC – UNESCO cooperation were discussed by the Heads of UGCs / Equivalent Bodies.

The Meeting agreed upon strict deadlines and working mechanisms in order to strengthen and streamline the existing process of cooperation in the area of higher education. The Ninth Meeting of the Committee of Heads of University Grants Commissions / Equivalent Bodies will be held in Sri Lanka in April 2014.

Ms. Li Jiang, Vice Governor of Yunnan Province of China called on H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary General of SAARC, on 15 April 2013 at his residence.
The Vice Governor invited the Secretary-General to attend the Twenty-first Session of China Kunming Import and Export Fair and the First Session of China - South Asia Exposition to be held in

Kunming from 6 to 10 June 2013. She handed over the letter of invitation to the Secretary-General.

While thanking Ms. Jiang for the invitation, the Secretary-General expressed his willingness to attend the two events in Kunming.

Ms. Jiang was accompanied by a seven-member delegation from China.