ISLAMABAD: In the absence of Indian, Bangladesh and Nepal’s finance secretaries, the 8th SAARC Finance Minister conference on Thursday stressed robust collaboration for trade liberalisation and regional connectivity among member states. It was agreed to implementation SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS), avoidance of double taxation, give special focus on customs-related trade facilitation measures and carry out transactions in local currencies among the member countries. The finance secretaries of the SAARC members also finalised agenda for the 8th SAARC Ministerial Conference to be held today (Friday). Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will address the inaugural session of the ministerial conference. The finance secretaries unanimously elected Finance Secretary of Pakistan Dr Waqar Masood Khan as chairperson of the meeting to discuss the agenda of promoting peace, stability, and shared prosperity. After assuming the charge as the new chairman, Dr Khan said that though considerable progress had been made in some areas under the ambit of this meeting, many issues still need prioritised attention by the respective governments. “There is need to focus the priority areas as identified by SAARC-ADB meetings that include reduction and removal of non-tariff barriers (NTBs) and para-tariff barriers (PTBs), energy cooperation, trade facilitation measures, investment cooperation, reduction on products in the sensitive lists, SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS) and improvement in connectivity – rail, road, air, maritime – among the member states,” he highlighted. All the secretaries of the member states highlighted economic performances of their respective countries and put forward recommendations for making SAARC a platform for regional integration by trade liberalisation, regional connectivity and utilising rich resources of the region for shared prosperity of the 1/5th of the world population residing in the region. They also stressed the need for utilisation of SAARC Development Fund (SDF) for building of infrastructures and promotion of social windows for the regional prosperity. In his remarks, SAARC Secretary General Arjun Bahadur Thapa thanked Pakistan for making excellent arrangement for 8th SAARC Finance Ministers meeting. He highlighted the achievements of SAARC and steps taken for the prosperity of the people in the region. On the occasion, the decisions of the 7th meeting of the SAARC secretaries were reviewed and adopted. The meeting also considered the report of Inter-Government Expert Group (IGEG) and SAARC-ADB study on regional economic integration and double taxation report. AID Management Ministry of Finance Director Mustafa Aria led the Afghan delegation, Joint Secretary Mohammed Yousuf led the Bangladesh team, Finance Secretary Dasho Nim Dorji lead the Bhutan side, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das represented India, Aishath Fazla represented Maldives, Joint Secretary Baikuntha Aryal represented Nepal, Secretary Dr R H S Samaratunga represented Sri Lanka and Dr Sunil Motiwal represented the SAARC Development Fund.