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Chief Executive Officer of SAARC Development Fund, Dr. Sunil Motiwal, called on the Minister of Finance of Maldives H.E Mr. Ibrahim Ameer on October 25 in the Maldives. They discussed SDF funded projects and the possibility of further strengthening collaboration through project financing.

 

Male’, Maldives 25 October 2019: Chief Executive Officer of SAARC Development Fund, Dr. Sunil Motiwal, called on the Minister of Finance of Maldives H.E Mr. Ibrahim Ameer on October 25 in the Maldives. They discussed SDF funded projects and the possibility of further strengthening collaboration through project financing.

The minister – who is also an SDF Governing Council member – said that he will try and ensure there are more new projects for co-financing by SDF.

The CEO also called on the Minister of Communication, Science & Technology, Maldives H.E Mr. Mohamed M Jamal. They also discussed SDF-funded projects & the possibility of more projects for co-financing by SDF. The minister spoke of projects related to setting up of ICT and software hub in the Maldives.

SDF also had fruitful discussions with Mr. Ali Naseer Mohamed, Secretary, Multilateral and Ms. Fathimath Ghina, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. CEO briefed them about SDF-funded projects under the three windows of SDF & the fund allocated to the Maldives.

The SAARC Development Fund, since its inception in April 2010 by heads of the eight SAARC Member States, is mandated to build regional integration and economic cooperation through project funding in all the SAARC member states – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The Secretariat is based in Thimphu Bhutan.

SDF’s governance structure includes its Governing Council comprising of the Finance Ministers of the eight SAARC Member States, and its Board of Directors comprised of representatives from the Ministry of Finance of each Member State. The SDF Secretariat, located in Thimphu, Bhutan, is headed by Chief Executive Officer.

Currently, SDF is implementing 92 projects in all SAARC Member States. There are 87 projects (under 13 areas) across all SAARC Member States under the Social Window with a fund commitment of USD 75.23 million. USD 48.37 million have been disbursed. There are five projects under the Economic and Infrastructure windows (including 2 in-principle approved projects) with a fund commitment of USD 73 million and MSME Program with a fund allocation of USD 50 million in the SAARC Member States. We have disbursed USD 13 million under Economic Window for the financing of ATR aircraft for Drukair Corporation, Bhutan. The cumulative fund commitment under the three funding windows including MSME Program stands allocation is at USD 198.23 million. Further, more than 10 bankable projects are also under active consideration of SDF to co-finance in the SAARC Member States

“Further, more than 10 bankable projects are also under active consideration of SDF to co-finance in the SAARC Member States,” said Dr. Sunil Motiwal.

 

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About Me

Dr. Sunil Motiwal is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SAARC Development Fund (SDF).

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Quote

“The SAARC region comprises 3% of the world’s area, about 23% of the world population and about 3.3% of the global economy and is considered as one of the fastest growing region in the world. The region is blessed with a considerable young population and abundance of natural resources”

“The Fund is working tirelessly to promote regional cooperation and integration and envisages acting as a catalyst for infrastructure funding in the region by forming consortium of funding agencies and co-financing of such projects”

“If you look at America and Europe, it (trade, travel and tourism) is intra-regional. But if you look at South Asia, it is least integrated region in the world. If you look at intra-regional trade, there is virtually no trade taking place in the SAARC region. There is no intra-regional travel and tourism as such multiplier impact of trade within the region has not benefited the SAARC countries”

“SDF may explore projects that facilitate intra SAARC investment. This will immensely help in economically integrating the South Asian Region will also facilitate development of supply chain in line with the competitive advantages of South Asian Nation, entail development of secondary and tertiary sector in key industries and also facilitate development of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)”

“SDF to work closely with various Multilateral Development Banks, International Financial Institutions, Regional Financial Institutions, Scheduled Commercial Banks, Infrastructure Funding Agencies to form consortium of funding agencies in order to co-finance large infrastructure projects in SAARC Member States.

“SDF to continue focus on co-finance Regional connectivity projects in Transport and Energy sectors in the region along with other Multilateral Development Banks”

“Per the policy guidelines of SDF, loans can be extended to both the private and public sectors in SAARC Member States. SDF to extend more support to the private sector under the MSME sector in SMSs. Focus to be given to innovative and tech based MSME private clusters in SAARC Member States in due course of time”

“We plan to convert SDF into regional bank in the next 2 years”

“SDF focusing on Social, Economic and Infrastructure Areas”

“SDF Regional Cooperation unleasing opportunities”

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