The Economic Affairs Committee of the National Council proposed to amend a section of article 5 of the SAARC Development Fund Charter. This was the only article that was proposed for amendment among 13 articles in the charter. SAARC Development Fund is a regional funding institute to fund projects for regional integration.
Section 1 of article 5 of the charter states that the resources and facilities may be utilized for funding projects involving more than two but not all SAARC Member States. During the introduction of the Charter (Amendment) of the SAARC Development Fund today in the National Council, Finance Minister Namgay Tshering said member states have been facing inconvenience with this existing provision.
“Firstly, the member countries could not meet and moreover, the priorities of a country defer from one another. For example, Bangladesh proposes something that is not of a need for Bhutan and India. And what India proposes is not the need for Nepal,” Lyonpo said.
Hence, the Chairperson of the Economic Affairs Committee proposed this section for amendment.
“The proposed amendment is the resources and facilities may be utilized for funding in projects involving one or more than one member states with the direct benefit going to more than one member state,” proposed Anand Rai, the Chairperson of the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Council.
“Bhutan proposed for a fund whereby it will benefit Nepal. That’s our proposed amendment. For example, last year we bought a new Drukair ATR. We borrowed USD 13 M from the SAARC Development Fund,” the Finance Minister added.
The committee also presented that the amendment will have a positive impact on regional integration through increased project collaboration for the SAARC region. Till now, there are 11 projects in the areas of eradicating poverty, providing employment and training, health and education and self-sufficiency programs under the SDF grants in the country.
Tshering Zam/Yeshi Dorji
