Islamabad proposes Saarc forum on energy resources

Pakistan has proposed the formation of Saarc ministerial forum on energy resources and Pakistan and India will hold talks on bilateral issues on the sidelines of Saarc Foreign Ministers Conference.
"We have proposed the establishment of the Saarc Ministerial Forum on Energy Resources," said the foreign office spokesman Masood Khan at a press briefing here on Sunday after Saarc standing committee finalised the agenda of the meeting.
The foreign ministry officials of seven South Asian nations opened a two-day meeting to discuss how to increase co-operation and prepare for talks this week by the foreign ministers, said the spokesman. The secretaries' meeting will be followed by two days of talks among the foreign ministers, scheduled to start on Tuesday.
Besides a meeting of Pakistan and Indian foreign secretaries Riaz Khokhar and Shashank, foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh will meet on the sidelines of the conference.
The foreign secretaries are expected to meet on Monday in the afternoon. While the foreign ministers will meet on Tuesday. The spokesman declined to give exact schedule of the meetings.
"The foreign secretaries and foreign ministers would be reviewing the progress made so far in the general direction of the composite dialogue process. They will discuss how to co-ordinate the process and to orchestrate different discussions on various agenda items," Khan added.
In reply to a question, the FO spokesman admitted that Pakistan was willing that peace and security issues should be included in the Saarc charter. A proposal from Pakistan was placed before the standing committee meeting. However, Khan gave no detail and he did not divulge into any detail on the issue.
At the summit in January this year, the Saarc members agreed to set up a free trade zone, starting in January 2006, to boost business and investment in the region, which has one-fifth of the world's population, he said.
Masood Khan said that the seven members of the Association were agreed on enhancing co-operation to use all its potentialities on the welfare of the people.
In reply to a question he said that a special committee of Saarc would look into effectiveness of any decision taken at summit or foreign ministers' level.
Masood Khan said that energy, communications and telecommunications were the areas where the member states could work together. The energy resources and its maximum utilisation will be on top of the agenda in the meeting, he said.
He said that the seven countries were unanimous in launching joint fight for alleviating poverty in South Asia. All the delegates, he said, want the body to operate smoothly and efficiently for economic prosperity of the region.