SAARC Development Fund launched
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
Development Fund (SDF) has been officially launched here by Bhutanese
Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley.
The SDF which was proposed by Bhutan during the 15th SAARC summit
held in Sri Lanka came into full operation after the inauguration at the
opening session of 16th SAARC summit on Wednesday.
The 32nd Session of SAARC Council of Ministers decided to appoint a
Chief Executive Officer for the SDF. The Permanent Secretariat of the
SDF will be based in Bhutanese capital Thimphu and serve as a regional
funding mechanism.
All SAARC leaders addressing the opening of 16th summit lauded the
full-fledged operation of SDF as one of the major achievements made
since SAARC was formed 25 years ago.
They also hoped for effective utilization of the fund to benefit the
people of the region and help to alleviate poverty as well. “The
important role of SDF is building a strong and dynamic SAARC through
poverty alleviation and the promotion of economic integration among our
countries,” said Bhutanese Prime Minister Thinley in his inaugural
speech.
The SDF is like the International Monetary Fund and Asian Development
Bank which will serve as a regional funding mechanism to fund various
social, economic and infrastructure projects in the region, Bhutan’s
official daily newspaper Kuensel reported on Thursday. The fund has an
authorized capital of special drawing rights which refers to the basket
of five major currencies in the world, such as US dollar and Euro,
according to Kuensel. Meanwhile, China, an observer of SAARC, proposed
to contribute 300,000 U.S. dollars to the SAARC Development Fund. Xinhua
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