A two-day meeting of the Chief Election Commissioners of the SAARC member Countries began in Dhaka today. Inaugurating the meeting, Bangladesh’s minister for Law Shafique Ahmed stressed on the need for greater co-operation among the election commissions of the region to strengthen the electoral reforms process.Ahmed reiterated his Government’s commitment to the electoral reform process in Bangladesh and its support to various initiatives of the Bangladesh Election Commission to make it more autonomous. He said, the 2008 elections conducted in Bangladesh was one of the most credible elections with the Election Commission’s initiative of Photo-electoral rolls along with fingerprinting of voters.The Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh ATM Shamsul Huda said the conference was aimed at laying the foundations for a permanent forum of the Election Commissions of the South Asian region which will help in sharing of experiences, technical expertise and best electoral management practices to ensure free and fair elections. Chief Election Commissioner of India Navin Chawla is attending the conference along with the CEC’s of Afghanistan Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives and host Bangladesh.