3rd SAARC ministerial meet on poverty alleviation begins today
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It will review achievements in the sector in the South Asian region.
Regional
poverty profile, SAARC Development Goals, regional and sub-regional
investment projects as well as the vision of SAARC Post 2015 Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) are expected to be discussed during the
ministerial meeting, according to SAARC Secretariat.
A
five-member Indian delegation will be joined by representatives from
seven other SAARC countries in the meeting, according to Dhan Bahadur
Oli, Nepal Director at SAARC Secretariat.
At
least six Finance and Economic Development ministers from the SAARC
region are expected to take part in the meeting. Despite, efforts made
at the regional level to reduce poverty, the number of poor people have
increased to 600 million in the SAARC region mainly due to lack of
labour intensive production policy and growing income disparity among
the people of the region, according to SAARC Secretariat.
Prior to ministerial meeting, SAARC Secretary-level meeting will also be held in Nepal on Thursday.
Addressing
a press meet on the eve of the meeting, SAARC Secretary General Ahmed
Saleem expressed the hope that Nepal will be able to host the 18th SAARC
Summit in Kathmandu later this year despite the ongoing political
transition in the country.
"SAARC
Summit has not been held for the past one and half year since the
Maldives Summit and I hope the next summit will take place in Kathmandu
later this year," he said.
The
meeting will review achievements in the area of poverty alleviation in
the south Asian region and recommend future course of action, said the
Secretary General.
The
last ministerial meeting of SAARC on Poverty Alleviation was held in
2008 in Maldives, while the fourth secretary level meeting was held in
2011 in Pakistan.
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