The inaugural South Asia Economic Summit (SAES) will be held on August 28-30 along with the 8th SAARC Trade Fair in Colombo providing a forum for the exchange of innovative ideas and policy options to tackle key regional issues, the organisers said this week.

The meeting will focus on leading economic integration issues including the status and challenges facing the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), and regional integration in services and investment.

Key regional infrastructure issues such as transport, ICT and trade facilitation measures will also be addressed in separate sessions, a statement from the organisers said. Global energy costs, the food crisis and climate change are among the challenges that would be discussed.

Among the objectives of the South Asia Economic Summit are to take stock of the new economic-related issues emerging from the 15th SAARC Summit, look at deepening and broadening economic integration by fast tracking goods liberalization under SAFTA and incorporating services and investment for liberalization in the region, respectively, among other issues.

The SAES is jointly organized by the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) and the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Sri Lanka (FCCISL) in collaboration with a number of institutes in the region..