13 July 2004	Tuesday	24 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

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ISLAMABAD, July 12: The 25th session of the Saarc council of ministers will be held in Islamabad on July 20-21 to review implementation of decisions taken by the 12th Saarc summit.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri would preside over the meeting which would be attended by foreign ministers of the member states, Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said in a press statement here on Monday.

The discussion would focus on cooperation in poverty alleviation, environment, communications and energy sectors, he said. "This round of Saarc sessions has a full agenda," the spokesman added.

The ministerial meeting will be preceded by working sessions of the standing committee, from July 18 to 19, to be attended by foreign secretaries, and the programming committee, from July 16 to 17, to be attended by joint secretaries/ directors-general of Saarc countries.

Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar will chair the standing committee's sessions. The statement said: "The foreign secretaries would look at Safta, promotion of investment, standards, quality control and measurement, and cooperation in the areas of customs, transport and statistics.

They will also review progress on interaction of Saarc with other regional organizations, notably UN, ADB, World Bank, UNDP, Unicef, FEM, UNIDO and Asean. They will also review progress in obtaining the observer status with the UN."

The spokesman said that leaders of all the Saarc countries were committed to enhancing the inter-locking South Asian region economic relationships.