The Heart of Asia (HoA) conference began on 26 April 2016 in New Delhi. The conference was attended by officials of a number of countries including Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry. Earlier, Pakistan hosted the fifth Heart of Asia Ministerial Conference in Islamabad on 9 December 2015.

• The key elements of HoA process have been to devise a sustained, incremental approach to implementation of the confidence building measures (CBM) in Afghanistan.
• It will also seek to speed up reconstruction in Afghanistan with a focus on enhancing investment and connectivity to the country.
• Energy, infrastructure and investment deals to shore up economic growth of Afghanistan may figure in the talks.

HoA conference

• HoA conference is a part of the Istanbul Process established 2011 which provides a platform to discuss an agenda of regional cooperation with Afghanistan at its centre.
• The 14 participating countries in HoA process are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and UAE. The supporting countries include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Iraq, Japan, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, U.K., U.S. and the E.U.
• The supporting countries to the process are: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, European Union, France, Finland, Germany, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States of America.