SBP governor stresses regional cooperation

Says agents such as SaarcFinance should be used to spread mutual interests

ISLAMABAD: SaarcFinance Chairman and State Bank of Pakistan Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra has urged the SaarcFinance coordinators to further fortify regional cooperation, especially in the areas of banking and finance, which in turn can facilitate cross border trade between member states.

He was addressing the 22nd SaarcFinance coordinators’ meeting held at the National Institute of Banking and Finance (NIBAF) Islamabad.

The governor welcomed the participants in Islamabad and shared the decision of the 30th group meeting of the SaarcFinance, which identifies five areas for cooperation and will ultimately work as a roadmap for the network. These five areas include reducing the transaction costs of cross-border remittances in the Saarc region; cross-border trade in the region; capacity building of staff and undertaking of collaborative research studies to assess issues of common interest.

Wathra expressed hope that these areas for mutual cooperation would help build a clear mandate for future cooperation among members.

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.

The opening session was followed by the business session that was chaired by State Bank of Pakistan Deputy Governor Riaz Riazuddin. Major issues deliberated upon during the meeting included the review of implementation of the decisions of the 30th SaarcFinance group meeting held in Dhaka on 12th June 2015. 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th,  2015.

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