South Asian Finance Ministers on Thursday agreed on allowing the Saarc Development Fund (SDF) to invest in infrastructure projects in a single country in an attempt to activate the infrastructure and economic windows under the SDF.

According to Saarc Charter, projects located in one or more Saarc member countries, of significant economic interest for three or more Saarc member states, are eligible for funding from the SDF.

“As it is difficult to find infrastructure projects that is operated in three countries or benefits three or more countries, Saarc Finance Ministers agreed on adopting flexibility on it,” said Madhu Marasini, chief of international economic cooperation coordination division at the Finance Ministry.  

During the 18th Saarc summit held in Kathmandu last year, Saarc leaders had agreed to open infrastructure and economic windows of the SDF while its social window has remained operational currently.

The infrastructure window of the SDF would cover projects in the area of energy, power, transportation, telecommunications, environment, tourism and infrastructure, while the economic window would primarily look after non-infrastructure funding.

The existing social window offers grant and technical assistance to member countries in their poverty alleviation and social efforts.

The 7th meeting of Saarc Finance Ministers that concluded on Thursday also decided to increase the capital of the fund as current amount is very low to fund any big scale project. Currently, capital of the SDF is just $350 million.