DOCUMENT No. 4

Highlights of 25th SAARC Council of Ministers

25th Session of SAARC Council of Ministers, Islamabad 20 July 2004

· The 25th Session of SAARC Council of Ministers was held at Islamabad on 20-21 July 2004. It was preceded by 30th Session of Standing Committee (18-19 July 2004) and 25 Session of Programming Committee (16-17 July 2004). The Foreign Ministers, Foreign Secretaries and senior officials of all SAARC Member Countries participated in the meetings respectively.

· The Prime Minister inaugurated the meeting of the Council of Ministers on 20 July 2004. He stressed the need for closer regional cooperation in various fields. He welcomed China's interest to closely associate with SAARC and expressed satisfaction over resumption of talks between Pakistan and India.

· The Council noted Pakistan's proposals to create and host a South Asia Energy Forum at Ministerial level and a SAARC Energy Centre. It also agreed that first Ministerial Meeting on Energy may be held in 2005 in Pakistan.

· The Standing Committee agreed that the SAARC Member Countries , Permanent Representatives in New York may be directed to take necessary action with a view to obtaining the UN Observer Status for SAARC.

· The Indian proposals to create a High Economic Council, SAARC Parliamentary Forum and SAARC Infrastructure Fund were referred to the relevant SAARC bodies for consideration.

· Pakistan proposed to institute a process of confidence building within SAARC as in ASEAN. But India opposed the idea.

· The next SAARC Summit will be held at Dhaka on 9-11 January 2004.

· Mr. Lyonpo Chenkyab Dorji of Bhutan has been appointed as next Secretary
General of SAARC with effect from 1 March 2005 for a period of three years

· The First SAARC Award has been conferred posthumously on late President Zia-ur-Rehman of Bangladesh in recognition of his vision and initiative for the establishment of SAARC.

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