ISLAMABAD, June 6: 'South Asian Journal', an English language quarterly focussing on the socio-economic realities faced by the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries, is being formally launched on Monday.

The journal is being launched by the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) at a formal ceremony to be held at a local hotel. Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz will be chief guest.

Mustansar Javed, the general secretary and chief coordinator of SAFMA, said the magazine was aimed at addressing the most pertinent issues ranging from politics to culture and nature of societies to conflict of states in South Asia, offering a plurality of approaches to meet the new challenges faced by the South Asian states.

He said the journal, collectively edited by the leading editors of South Asia, included original contributions from scholars, academicians, experts and journalists from all countries of the region.

"The latest, fourth issue, of the journal covers a wide-range of contributions on economics challenges faced by the SAARC countries including an analytical assessment of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement signed in Islamabad during the SAARC summit in January this year," Mr Javed said.

He said the article contributed by Dr Saman Kelegama, executive director of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, on SAFTA presented a thorough critique showing what was wrong with this agreement.

Similarly, he said an article on 'Aid, Governance and Ownership' written by Prof Rehman Sobhan, chairman of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh, presented a critical view of aid, donors and governance all in the context of political economy where there was unequal manifestation and use of power between the donors and aid recipients.

Dr Rajesh Mehta, senior fellow at the Research and Information System for Non-Aligned and other Developing Countries in New Delhi, looks at the state of economy in India, particularly its reform process.