The inauguration ceremony for the meeting took place on Monday (08) under the patronage of the Secretary to the National Policies and Economic Affairs Ministry, M. I. M Rafeek at the Hilton hotel, Colombo.

Energy regulator representatives from Nepal, India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Maldives Sri Lanka and Pakistan are participating at the meeting.

The Meeting of SAARC Energy Regulators was proposed at a SAARC Energy Ministers Meeting held in 2011. SAARC energy ministers, senior officials, expert group have been meeting periodically to enforce the issue of regional energy corporation. It was felt that meetings and interactions among the policy makers and experts are not sufficient in this connection. It was recognized interactions and dialogues have to be established among the stake holders of the sector including the regulators in the member states in order to effectively materialize the issue of Regional Energy Corporation.

Accordingly it was proposed that SAARC energy regulators should meet periodically in line with meetings of ministers/senior officials and other energy related groups/committee under the SAARC framework at a SAARC Energy Ministers Meeting held in Dhaka (Sep 2011).

The first meeting of SAARC energy regulators was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.