Sartaj Aziz to arrive today for Heart of Asia Conference

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz, will arrive in Amritsar on Saturday evening to attend the Heart of Asia Conference that began today.

The opening senior officials meeting today will discuss and finalise the text for the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process. Today's meeting will also cover all necessary technical aspects of the declaration to be announced tomorrow.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and the United Arab Emirates are part of the Heart of Asia initiative launched in 2011 for encouraging economic and security cooperation between Afghanistan and its neighbours for dealing with the common problems of terrorism, extremism and poverty.

The process is supported by 17 other predominantly Western countries and 12 international organisations, which are also sending senior representatives.

Delegates from nearly 40 countries will participate in the conference organised on the theme 'Addressing Challenges, Achieving Prosperity'. The main conference will be inaugurated jointly by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will lead the Indian delegation in place of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is unwell.

Eliminating terrorism in South Asia and improving connectivity in Afghanistan is likely to dominate the discussions.