ISLAMABAD, July 31: The first meeting of the Council of Common Interests in about eight years will be held on Aug 2, one day ahead of schedule, as Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is leaving the country to attend an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Conference starting on Aug 3 in Malaysia.

The CCI meeting was earlier scheduled for Aug 3.

A meeting of the cabinet will also be held on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Aziz will preside over the meeting as CCI chairman and also represent Punjab in it. It will be attended by the chief ministers of the provinces, Inter-Provincial Coordination Minister Salim Saifullah Khan from the NWFP, States and Frontier regions Minister Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind from Balochistan and Narcotics Control Minister Ghaus Bakhsh Meher from Sindh. The cabinet division secretary will serve as secretary of the CCI.

The reason for holding the meeting one day ahead of schedule is that the prime minister is leaving the country to attend the two-day emergency meeting of the OIC starting in Malaysia on Aug 3 to discuss Israeli aggression against Lebanon and Palestine.

While giving its verdict on the privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills last month, the Supreme Court had ordered that the CCI should be constituted within six weeks.

No agenda has been issued with the invitation to the CCI members. However, the issue of the privatisation of the PSM is likely to be on top of the agenda.

It is perceived that issues concerning the provinces like the distribution of financial resources, implementation of the 1991 water apportionment accord and construction of large dams will be introduced for discussion and decision.

All members of the council except NWFP Chief Minister Akram Durrani belong to the ruling coalition. An official said on Monday that the CCI had a number of pending issues, including that of net profits from hydro-electric power generation decided in 1991 but not yet implemented completely.