She reiterated that poverty alleviation should be the achieving goal of the Saarc region as agreed in the last summit of the forum in Islamabad.

The prime minister was talking to the newly appointed Secretary General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) Chenkyab Dorji when he called on her at her office.

She assured Bangladesh's "fullest support for expansion of Saarc activities". In this regard she mentioned that the forum leaders in the last summit gave specific

recommendation for strengthening the Saarc secretariat.

Dorji, the eighth secretary general of the forum, took over charge on March 1, 2005 for a three-year term and was now paying routine visit to member-countries to consult the leaders and take guidance for moving the Saarc process.

The former chairman of Planning Commission and National Environment Commission of Bhutan praised Bangladesh for what he called tremendous success in the social sectors like rural development, poverty alleviation, empowerment of women and education.

He said the member-countries can draw a lot of benefits from the institutions and practices in Bangladesh. He particularly mentioned microcredit, PKSF, Grameen Bank and Brac.

Dorji, who is visiting Dhaka for the first time after taking over as Saarc secretary general, agreed with the leadership that topmost priority should be given to Safta agreement and put special focus on poverty alleviation.

He said the Saarc should make a programme for achieving UN Millennium Development Goals.

Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Director General

(Saarc and BIMSTEC) of the Foreign Ministry Ruhul Amin and Saarc Secretariat Director for Agriculture and Rural Development Sufiur Rahman were present.