ISLAMABAD, April 8: Norway has agreed to provide $4.5 million to the South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) to help the organization in achieving its objectives of conflict resolution, peace, regional cooperation and access to free flow of information in South Asia through media intervention, said a press release here Saturday.

“Safma is a unique initiative in peace making and cross-border media collaboration,” said Norwegian ambassador Janis Bjorn Kanavin after signing an agreement with Safma Pakistan chapter secretary general Imtiaz Alam in Islamabad on Friday evening.

“No other initiative has been able to do as much as Safma has done,” he said.

Norway, which supports the normalization process between Pakistan and India, has been providing substantial financial funds for Safma activities since its inception five years ago.

According to the agreement, Norwegian government would provide $1.5 million during the current calendar year and $1 million in the following years up to 2009.

Safma aims at promoting understanding about the major issues confronting the region including peaceful resolution of conflicts, non-proliferation, economic cooperation, poverty alleviation, democracy, human rights and good governance.

It has not only mobilized the mainstream media in South Asia to promote its agenda but has also encouraged major stakeholders, parliamentarians and those who matter in policy formulation in each country of the region.

The Safma arranged various activities including Indo-Pakistan and Saarc parliamentarians’ conferences in Pakistan on the pattern of EU parliament.—Our Reporter