ISLAMABAD: Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Ashraf Mahmood Wathra on Monday urged the SAARCFINANCE Coordinators to further fortify regional cooperation, especially in the areas of banking and finance to facilitate cross border trade between the member states.
SBP Governor who is also Chairman of SAARCFINANCE was addressing 22nd SAARCFINANCE Coordinators’ meeting held at National Institute of Banking and Finance (NIBAF).
The meeting was primarily aimed at reviewing the progress of SAARCFINANCE activities and to prepare the draft agenda for the forthcoming 31st SAARCFINANCE Group Meeting, which will be held alongside the annual meetings of the IMF, World Bank in Lima, Peru during October 9-11, 2015.
SAARCFINANCE Coordinators and Alternate SAARCFINANCE Coordinators from SAARC Central Banks and focal points from ministries of finance of the region, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and SBP attended the meeting, said a statement.
Governor SBP shared the decision of the 30th group meeting of the SAARCFINANCE, which identifies five areas for cooperation, which will ultimately work as a roadmap for the network.
The areas of cooperation, he said include reducing the transaction costs of cross-border remittances in the SAARC region, cross-border trade in the region, capacity building of staff, creation of SAARCFINANCE statistical database and undertaking of collaborative research studies to assess issues of common interest.
Ashraf Wathra expressed hope that these areas for mutual cooperation would help build a clear mandate for future cooperation among the members.
SBP Governor highlighted some recent initiatives undertaken by the SAARCFINANCE Network, such as the availability of short-term liquidity for members under the SAARC Swap Arrangement, capacity building programs for officials of members under the SAARCFINANCE Scholarship Scheme and the dialogue and exchange of knowledge on issues of mutual interest through SAARCFINANCE Portal.
These initiatives are beneficial in fostering closer relationships and, building human capability in practical fields of central banking amongst SAARC partners, he added.
Major issues deliberated during the meeting included the review of implementation of the decisions of the 30th SAARCFINANCE Group Meeting held in Dhaka on June 12, 2015, progress and update regarding the collaborative research studies by member central banks and review of the developments regarding the SAARCFINANCE Statistical Database.
