The South Asia Forum for Infrastructure Regulation (SAFIR) was established in May 1999 with the support of the World Bank. SAFIR aims to provide high quality capacity building and training on infrastructure regulation, and related topics, in South Asia and to stimulate research on the subject by building a network of regional and international institutions and individuals that are active in the field. It also aims at facilitating effective and efficient regulation of utility and infrastructure industries, initiate beneficial exchange of knowledge and expertise, and set the trend of rapid implementation of global best practices.

Regulatory reform processes face numerous challenges today. Recognizing these as issues that need to be addressed head-on for the path to be clear for new and future regulatory agencies and in response to an identified need by regulators from the region,. The SAFIR initiative continues to be guided by a Steering committee of experienced regulators from the region covering Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, or any such other countries as decided time to time by the Steering Committee.

SAFIR is designed to assist in the building of regulatory capacity in the electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, water, transport and other sectors as decided by the Steering Committee.

Aims & objectives

SAFIR aims to provide high quality capacity building and training on infrastructure regulation, and related topics, in South Asia. Specific objectives of SAFIR are:

• Provide a platform for experience sharing amongst the regulators of the region
• Build regulatory decision-making and response capacity in South Asia
• Facilitate the regulatory process
• Conduct training programmes to serve regulatory agencies and other stakeholders
• Spur research on regulatory issues
• Provide a databank of information relating to regulatory reform processes and experiences

Chairmanship of SAFIR

The Annual General Meeting of the SAFIR members is held in the form of an annual SAFIR conference. Each AGM elects a Chair from the members present. The current Chairman of SAFIR is Mr Khalid Saeed, who is also the Chairman of NEPRA, Pakistan.