DHAKA, Aug 21: A 19-point resolution was unanimously adopted at the two-day South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) regional conference that ended in Dhaka on Saturday.

The conference also expressed deep concern about the arrest of the former chairman of the Group of Eminent Persons and others in the Maldives and increasing attacks on the press in the countries of South Asia.

The resolution was drafted reflecting the aspirations of the people of the region and to face the challenges posed by globalization and meet the demands of the WTO regime through enhanced regional cooperation.

The highlight of the SAFMA resolution has been the idea of a greater coordination among central banks to initiate sustained trading links, a customs union to formulate a common exchange rate policy, a common energy grid across the region with integrated electricity and gas system, and transport cooperation which would lead to an integrated transport infrastructure for uninterrupted travel from Peshawar to Chittagong and from Kathmandu to Colombo and thereby connecting the regions of central Asia, the Persian Gulf, South East Asia and China with South Asia.

The resolution also expressed its wholehearted support to SAFMA's initiative to convene a Conference of South Asian Parliamentarians in March 2005. A uniform human rights code in the region is now an imperative and the resolution expressed this need through its call for an institution be set up under the Paris Principles.

Earlier on the concluding day, there were thought-provoking papers on the prospects of South Asian monetary union and energy grid, South Asian economic union and parliament, and need for a united code of human rights for SAARC. The regional conference will be followed by a day-long national conference on press freedom and media laws.

The first session of the day two was devoted to the issue of 'South Asian Monetary Union and Energy Grid.'keynote paper by Professor Mahendra P.Lama of Jawaharlal Nehru University on 'South Asian Energy Grid' was read out by Mr Vinod Sharma while another important paper on 'South Asian Monetary Union' was read out by Mr Imtiaz Alam on behalf of Dr. A.R. Kamal, Director of PIDE, Islamabad. Mohammad Ibrahim Khaled, Nuruddin Mahmod Kamal and Asheesh Chakraborty were present as discussants.