based outcomes. concurrently, we can start broaching the idea of saarcfinance as an economic alliance to meet the challenges of the future. 16. let me now turn my attention to the long term. to set a future direction and priorities for saarcfinance, currently we are in the process of developing a roadmap for the network. in this context, we have identified five areas of regional cooperation and integration, which include : ( i ) reducing the transaction cost of cross - border remittances in the saarc region ; ( ii ) facilitating the cross - border trade in the region ; ( iii ) capacity building programmes for our staff ; ( iv ) the creation of saarcfinance statistical database ; and ( v ) undertaking of collaborative research studies. out of the five areas, the first two are ambitious programs, the next one is about the capacity building of the officials of members, and the work on other two projects is already going on. with your support, we believe that these five areas of cooperation will initially form the roadmap for saarcfinance and would help set a clear direction and priorities for our future cooperation. bis central bankers ’ speeches 17. all the above identified areas are important. however, i would like to highlight the role of central banks in facilitating the cross - border trade. i believe that the regional central banks have the ability to form cohesive policies towards gearing up cooperation in banking and finance with a view to facilitate cross border trade and investments. similarly, we further intend to integrate and improve our payments and settlement system. among others, the cooperation on this specific area would help promote bilateral and regional trade besides strengthening financial infrastructure in the region. 18. before i make my concluding remarks, i would like to record one proposal. “ the saarc secretary general or his representative is invited for participation in regional group meting only. it will be appropriate to invite saarc secretary general or his representative into saarcfinance meetings to ensure effective liaison with all saarc bodies ”. second is a request to honourable finance minister of maldives. for the last one a half years maldives monetary authority has not been representing our meetings or events. in this context, i would request honourable finance minister of maldives to look into this issue and facilitate us with mmas participation in our various meetings / events in future. honourable chairman, 19. let me conclude by saying that the saarcfinance network

##ance has held thirty meetings of the network. for smooth functioning of this network, dedicated saarcfinance country cell has been established in member central banks, where the work is supervised by a saarcfinance coordinator with support from an alternate coordinator. for effective coordination with ministries of finance of the region, one saarcfinance focal point has also been appointed from each country. further, the network has a rotating secretariat which shifts to the member central bank holding the chair, rotating annually in an alphabetical order. during the 29th group meeting held on 9th october 2014, the saarcfinance chair was shifted to state bank of pakistan. bis central bankers ’ speeches honorable chairman, 6. i will now proceed to a presentation of our activities. in doing so, i will take the liberty to present our progress of the past few years since it has been a while that the saarc chairman has been invited to this forum, to be precise since 2013. 7. as a part of its core objectives of information sharing and sharing of expertise, the network holds regular staff exchange programmes. these programmes provide an excellent opportunity to the officials of the member central banks to learn from each other ’ s experience and expertise. since 2013, the network has facilitated around 35 staff exchange and training programmes. to facilitate information sharing, a number of regular and non - regular publications and other documents, especially on policy issues, are exchanged among the member institutions. similarly, the network arranges seminars, workshops and symposiums on regular basis. for example since 2013 ten seminars and three governors ’ symposiums have been organized. the subjects of these programs cover varied topics. to name a few : monetary policy framework, central banking operational procedures, banking supervision, currency management, internal audit, and human resource management. similarly, the network has initiated a scholarship scheme for capacity building of the officials of saarcfinance members. this is a relatively newer initiative and so far 5 officials have been awarded scholarships for phd and masters programmes. 8. to further facilitate information sharing, every member central bank has created a web folder on their official websites. the network has its own official website, which provides an informed platform to all members for disseminating important information contents. furthermore, a saarcfinance portal has also been created which serves as a powerful tool to retain institutional memory of our network. the portal enables saarcfinance central banks to share experiences and hold online discussions on issues of mutual interest.