National 3 (Spotlight Weekly)

On The Move

With the improvement of relations between India and Pakistan, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is on the move

By A CORRESPONDENT

If the recent activities of the SAARC secretariat are any indication, it shows that the SAARC is gradually engaging in various activities following its “near collapse state” two years ago.

In the last two weeks, the SAARC has already conducted three important meetings in capital Kathmandu on the broader issues like South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), Millennium Development Goals and poverty alleviation.

Rahim : Fresh round of activities

The first meeting the Committee of Experts (COE) on SAFTA was held on February 26-27 and completed negotiations on four articles of the Agreement. According to the press release by the SAARC Secretariat, the consensus had been reached, in principle, but details were to be finalized

Jointly organized by SAARC, UNESCAP and UNDP, the first South Asia sub-regional Workshop on disseminating the Regional Millennium Development Goals Report was another important event held last week in Kathmandu. Participated by the experts from UN, civil society members of the region and senior government officials, the meeting discussed effective ways to attain targets of poverty alleviation, among others.

During the launching ceremony of MDG Report South Asia, senior UN officials and experts highlighted the bleak scenario of poverty alleviation programs in the region where there is the largest concentration of people living below the poverty lines. Inaugurated by Dr. Bekh Bahadur Thapa, Ambassador at-large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Erna Witoelar, UN Special Ambassador for MDGs for Asia and Pacific also addressed the meeting. Attended by Kim Hak-Su, executive secretary of UNESCAP, participants discussed the way to effectively implement MDG.

Although some achievements have been made during the last few years in the areas of poverty alleviation, the countries of the region particularly Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh have large number of population whose daily income is less than 1 US dollar.

The third event was the SAARC-UNDP High Level Forum on Poverty Reduction Strategies in South Asia. In this meeting, high-level officials discussed on strategies to overcome poverty.

Past experiences have shown that regional cooperation can play an important role in the area of poverty alleviation. “We have made progress in many fields but we are yet to succeed implementing the poverty alleviation programs,” said Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani, finance minister, addressing the meeting.

Participated by high level experts and officials from the south Asian countries, the two day seminar discussed on many important matters including the present poverty reduction strategies.

“Since large number of people in our region still live below the poverty line, we need to have common strategies in the region to fight against poverty,” said Q.A.M.A. Rahim, secretary general of SAARC. “ The SAARC secretariat has already commenced works to update the regional poverty profile and will propose a new program on transportation in the region very soon.”

Delivering his key welcome address, foreign secretary Madhu Raman Acharya called for more action oriented programs to eradicate the poverty from the region.

“The adoption of SAARC development goals will lead to the operationalization of MDGs in the region and also integrate it on the five-year development plans of the member states,” said Hafiz Pasha, the UN Assistant Secretary General. “It is very encouraging to note that the countries of the poverty-hit region are coming closer to attain peace and stability.”