ISLAMABAD, March 6: President Gen Pervez Musharraf will inaugurate the second Saarc Information Ministers Conference here on Thursday afternoon.

Information ministers of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and host Pakistan will attend the conference, while Sri Lanka will be represented by its information secretary.

Before the formal inauguration of the conference, information secretaries will review the implementation of the decisions taken during the first Saarc information ministers conference held at Dhaka in 1998, and prepare recommendations for the second conference.

Later, the ministers will discuss these recommendations. They will devote sessions over three days to extensive deliberations on how to strengthen regional cooperation in the field of information and media.

South Asia is home to one-fifth of humanity and recent Saarc meetings, including the Summit of leaders from seven member countries in Kathmandu in January, have been calling for greater regional cooperation.

The delegates have started arriving in the capital and Indian Information Minister Sushma Swaraj will be the last to come late in the night.

She will be the first Indian minister to be visiting Pakistan after President Musharraf took over.

The member countries will also focus on developing an appropriate software for information infrastructure of Saarc functional cooperation.

Publicity and projection of Saarc activities within and outside the region, evolving a Saarc common position for projection at the World Summit on the Information Society, to be held in Switzerland next year, will also be discussed.

The meeting will elect the new chairperson of Saarc information ministers at its first regular session to be held on Friday.

The participants will decide the venue and dates of the third meeting of the South Asian information ministers.

On Saturday, the participants will visit Taxila and have glimpses of the ancient Gandhara civilization.

The delegates’ visits to Faisal Mosque and Lok Virsa in Islamabad are also scheduled for the same day.

At the concluding session, the conference will adopt a report. —APP