The South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Program will convene a Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on 29-30 September 2026, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Mr. Premaratne, Director General of the National Planning Department, Government of Sri Lanka, will chair the meeting. Director General Sona Shrestha of ADB’s South Asia Department will serve as co-chair.

The SOM will be attended by senior officials from SASEC countries, together with representatives from relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of External or Foreign Affairs, as well as heads of delegations from Transport, Trade Facilitation, and Energy Working Groups, and ADB. The meeting will also invite development partner representatives from World Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and New Development Bank  to participate in relevant sessions. 

Key agenda items include 

• A report on the progress made on items agreed during the last Senior Officials Meeting; 
• Progress of various activities under Working Groups in Transport, Trade Facilitation, Energy Working Group; 
• A report on the SASEC Economic Corridor Development (ECD) Forum, building blocks of ECD, for endorsement of SASEC Strategy 2035 on Economic Corridor Operational Priority A report on the SASEC Economic Corridor Development Forum and the building blocks for economic corridor development, supporting consideration and endorsement of the SASEC Strategy 2035 operational priority on economic corridors; 
• A presentation on the Digital Payment Ecosystems in SASEC partner countries;
• A review of the draft Action Plan for SASEC Initiatives (APSI) 2026–2028, including discussion of its updating for 2027–2029; 
• Presentations by ADB Country Directors on Country Partnership Strategies and country programming that support regional cooperation and integration; and
• An ADB presentation on the Pan-Asia Power Grid and the Asia-Pacific Digital Highway.