The 8th Governing Board (GB) meeting of SAARC Arbitration Council (SARCO) was held at the Renuka City Hotel, Colombo on 21st and 22nd September, 2017. Delegates from all eight Member States participated in the meeting. Secretary General of SAARC was represented by Ms.RishfaRasheed, Director (Social Affairs) of the SAARC Secretariat. The meeting was chaired by Mr.ShaikhSarfraz, Additional Legal Draftsman/Joint Secretary of Ministry of Law and Justice, Islamabad, Pakistan. The meeting deliberated on the financial and administrative matters referred to them. The Governing Board also considered the budget of the Council proposed by its Secretariat for 2018 and recommended with the necessary amendments to the Programming Committee of SAARC.
The Director General, Mr. Thusantha Wijemanna briefed the Governing Board with the activities carried out during the past year while presenting his report to the meeting.
The GB expressed its appreciation with regard to performance of SARCO and commended the staff for their hard work done in developing profile of the institution.
In keeping with the SAARC practice all decisions at the meeting were unanimous.
The meeting was attended by Mr.ZahidullahJalali of Afghanistan Director General designate to SARCO, Ms.MalekaParveen (Counsellor, High Commission for the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Colombo), Mr. Karma Yeshey (Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Economic Affairs Thimphu) Bhutan, Mrs. Uma Sekhar (Joint Secretary Ministry of External Affairs New Delhi) India, Ms.FathimathHaleem (Solicitor General, Attorney General ‘s Office Male) Maldives, Mr.ToyanathAdhikari (Joint Secretary ,Ministry of Law ,Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Kathmandu) Nepal, Mr.ShaikhSarfraz Ahmed (Additional Draftsman/Joint Secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice) Pakistan, Dr.ZafarIqbal (Director SAARC , Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Pakistan, Mr. C.A.H.M. Wijeratne (Director General/Legal Advisor, Ministry of External Affairs) Sri Lanka.
SAARC Arbitration Council (SARCO)
Dated: 22-09-2017