State Bank of Pakistan Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra has expressed optimism that SAARCFINANCE can play an important role in fostering closer relationship and building human capability in the fields of economic and finance amongst Saarc partners. He was addressing the meeting of 31st SAARCFINANCE Group held on 8th October 2015 at Lima, Peru, alongside the IMF/World Bank annual meetings. Wathra and Chairman of SAARCFINANCE chaired the meeting jointly.
The meeting was attended by Saarc central bank governors and finance secretaries. In his opening remarks, Wathra thanked all the members for entrusting SBP the chairpersonship as well as for extending full support to fulfil such responsibility during the last one year. He highlighted some of the recent initiatives undertaken by the network and urged member countries to further fortify regional co-operation, especially in the areas of banking and finance.
The opening session was followed by a business session. The major issues deliberated upon during the meeting included updates on SAARCFINANCE related issues during 7th Saarc Finance Ministers' Meeting held at Kathmandu on 20th August 2015; creation of a statistical database; modalities for collaborative research studies by member countries; proposal for identifying areas of regional co-operation and integration, which would eventually act as the roadmap for SAARCFINANCE; venue for 32nd Group Meeting and Governors' Symposium 2016; transfer of SAARCFINANCE chair from State Bank of Pakistan to Central Bank of Sri Lanka; and new proposals from the member countries to hold seminars or other activities. Before close of the meeting, the SAARCFINANCE chair was handed over to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka from the State Bank of Pakistan.