European Commission (EC) has shown its interest to get observer status of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), foreign ministry officials said here yesterday.

Rie EC's interest was conveyed when a delegation of senior officials of Saarc member countries called on the senior officials of the EC in Brussels last week, the officials said.

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The official on condition of anonymity said the Indian finance minister, who hails from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu, will be busy in election campaigns and the nomination filing coincide with the Islamabad meet.

The Saarc finance ministers' meet in Islamabad on April 14-15 was due to finalise the modalities and mechanism for spending and contributing to different funds, including the South Asia Development Fund (SADF), Saarc Development Fund (SDF) and Saarc Poverty Alleviation Fund.

Fresh date of the Saarc finance ministers' meet will be announced later on.

The SDF will have different outlets, one of which will be Saarc Poverty Alleviation Fund. There is a proposal to raise $300 million to undertake poverty alleviation and social development projects. India has already agreed to contribute $100 million to the fund. The remaining $200 million funds may be mobilised from within and beyond the region.

The official said the meetings of the Saarc Standing Committee on April 10-12 and the first meeting of Safta (South Asian Free Trade Area) Council of Ministers (SMC) on April 20 in Dhaka will proceed as scheduled.

The three-day meeting of Saarc Standing Committee, comprised of the foreign secretaries of member states, will explore ways and make recommendations on how to reorganise and strengthen Saarc and its secretariat further. It will also determine the terms and conditions for new membership and observer status of Saarc.

Ahead of the Saarc Standing

Committee meet, Saarc Programming Committee comprising senior officials of Saarc will meet on April 7-9 to workout the agenda for the foreign secretaries level talks.

While the first meeting of SMC in Dhaka will review and finalise the Safta implementation arrangements, the meeting will also review the progress towards the launching of trade liberalisation programme (TLP) under Safta with effect from July 1, 2006.

Commerce and trade ministers from the seven member countries -Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- will attend the meeting.