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Iftekhar off to Colombo to join Saarc ministerial

Staff Correspondent
Foreign Adviser Iftekhar A Chowdhury left for Colombo last night to attend the Saarc ministerial meeting where he will also sign an agreement to start the South Asian Development Fund and hammer out details of a regional counter- terror pact.
Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed is expected to leave tomorrow to attend the 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Summit to be held between August 2 and 3.
"At this summit we will address the crucial issues of the day... food, energy, trade and climate change among other things," the foreign adviser said in a foreign ministry press release.
The government is still
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preparing its position on each of these matters, he said.
Iftekhar said he will sign the South Asian Development Fund at the summit, which he said would be an "important instrument bringing visible, tangible and concrete benefits to the people of the member states".
He also said the programming committee meetings, which finished yesterday, have also chalked out details of a regional counter-terror pact that has been in the works since 2002.
"Our delegation which is already there has also informed me that we may be in the final stages of negotiating a convention on the Mutu J Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters," Iftekhar said.
The foreign adviser, attending his second summit as adviser, also welcomed the decision to base the headquarters of the South Asian Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO) in Dhaka.
He said Saarc should also work to replicate the success of regional groupings in Southeast Asia and Europe to embrace the "dawning of the new Asian era".
"We will make best efforts to render the organisation into people's Saarc," he said.
Earlier yesterday, Iftekhar sent a congratulatory letter to the newly appointed Thai Foreign Minister Taj Bunnag
He also received Singapore High Commissioner Verghese Mathews. Mathews said Singapore investors are keen on improving the $1 billion investment in Bangladesh.