ISLAMABAD, Dec 29: A two-day meeting of the programming committee of the 12th Saarc summit began here on Monday, formally kicking off the preparatory process for the summit conference on Jan 4.

“The programming committee held intense and comprehensive deliberations on important issues today,” Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said, adding that at the outset of its 24th session, the committee elected Director-General (South Asia) Jalil Abbas Jilani as its chairman.

The committee, comprising senior officials from all the member states, reviewed progress on the Saarc Integrated Programme of Action (Sipa) that consisted of seven technical committees on agreed areas of cooperation.

These areas include Agriculture and Rural Development; Communications and Transport; Social Development; Environment, Meteorology and Forestry; Science and Technology; Human Resources Development; and Energy.

The foreign office spokesman said the programming committee reviewed reports of the five Saarc centres namely, Human Resource Development Centre (Islamabad); Meteorological Research Centre (Dhaka); Agriculture Information Centre (Dhaka); Tuberculosis Centre (Kathmandu) and Documentation Centre (New Delhi).

He said the programming committee also reviewed budgetary matters and discussed projects executed under the Saarc-Japan Special Fund.

The delegates also discussed the calendar of activities with a view to making the Saarc calendar more predictable, the spokesman added.

Apart from delegates from seven member states, Saarc Secretary-General Qamar Ahmed Rahim was also present at the meeting.

At the end of the session, the programming committee will submit recommendations for action on the reports of the technical committees to the standing committee, comprising Saarc foreign secretaries.

The meeting of the programming committee will conclude on Tuesday.