Dhaka: Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on Thursday urged the Saarc Member States to focus on more realistic, result-oriented and mutually beneficial partnership for transforming the region into a development powerhouse through joint efforts.

‘We must work together in an atmosphere of friendship, peace and stability to continue to remain a secure, stable and prosperous region,’ he said while addressing the 37th Session of the Saarc Council of Ministers (COM) held in Pokhara, Nepal.

The Foreign Minister also emphasized important areas of cooperation including connectivity, trade and investment, energy, agriculture, terrorism and violent extremism, and blue economy, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

The meeting of Saarc Council of Ministers was preceded by the 42nd session of the Saarc Standing Committee and the 52nd session of the Saarc Programming Committee, as part of the Saarc Inter-Summit Sessions.

Foreign Secretary Mohammad Shahidul Haque led the Bangladesh delegation at the standing committee.

Bangladesh announced it will convene the third Saarc Agriculture Ministers’ meeting on 4-7 April, the third Saarc Ministers’ meeting on Science and Technology in the third quarter of the current year, the Saarc Cultural Ministers’ meeting and the inaugural session of the Saarc Cultural Capital programme in October and the fifth meeting of Saarc Ministers on Poverty Alleviation in February 2017, as part of fulfilling Bangladesh’s commitment to the Saarc process.

Bangladesh also shared a concept note on the ‘Blue Economy’, to shape the regional discourse on marine resources and proposed to recognize the South Asia Tourism Federation (SATF)—a platform of stakeholders from the tourism industry across South Asia -as a Saarc apex body, with the aim to facilitate tourism.

The Council recommended that the Saarc Disaster Management Centre (SDMC) will be located in New Delhi and the Environment Centre will be merged with the existing Energy Centre located in Islamabad.

The Council of Ministers also recommended that future Saarc Summits be held every alternate November, in accordance of which the next one will be held in Islamabad this year, from 9-10 November.

The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan on the sidelines of the Inter-Summit Sessions.