132nd Consultative Committee of South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme


The 132nd Meeting of the Consultative Committee (CC) of SACEP was held on 2nd March 2021 at the Secretariat. The meeting was attended by the Ambassadors / High Commissioners, Senior Diplomats of the Member States residing in Colombo and the National Focal Point of SACEP of Sri Lanka represented by the Secretary Ministry of Environment.

The welcome address was delivered by H.E. Maj. Gen. (Retd) Muhammad Saad Khattak, High Commissioner of Pakistan and the out-going Chairman of CC-SACEP and the Opening Remarks were delivered by Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Government of Sri Lanka who was appointed as the Chairman of the Consultative Committee of SACEP according to the Articles of Association of SACEP. The objective of the meeting was to discuss and facilitate the smooth functioning of the organization despite of the challenges faced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

H.E. M. Ashraf Haidari, Ambassador, Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to Sri Lanka was appointed as the Director-General of SACEP as the nominee of Government of Afghanistan for the remainder term of the Member State. H.E. M. Ashraf Haidari filled the vacancy of Dr. Abas Basir who was called back to the country to serve as the Minister of Higher Education of Government Afghanistan.

H.E. M. Ashraf Haidari was the Director-General of Policy and Strategy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan from 2015-2018, during which he closely worked with the Ministry’s policy and administrative Directorates-General to plan for execution the annual and longer-term foreign policy objectives of Afghanistan set by the leadership of the Government of Afghanistan. In this cross-cutting role, he directly reported to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, while frequently collaborating with the Offices of the President, the Chief Executive, and the National Security Council of Afghanistan.

Biography of H.E. M. Ashraf Haidari