VOL.VII, NO.4
APRIL 1996
SAARC Secretary-General completes his official visits to Bangladesh and Bhutan
Secretary-General, Naeem U. Hasan continued his introductory visits to the Member Countries
during April 1996. He visited Bangladesh from April 12-15, 1996. During his visit, he paid
courtesy calls on the President of Bangladesh, Abdur Rahman Biswas, and Chief Advisor to the
President, Muhammad Habibur Rahman during which he apprised them of recent developments in
SAARC to promote regional cooperation in South Asia. The Secretary-General highlighted in
particular, the on-going efforts of Member States towards the eradication of poverty from the
region and touched upon the progress made by the three-tier mechanism established within the
SAARC framework to exchange information and experiences in the implementation of poverty
alleviation programmes. He also briefed the President on the developments in the area of economic
and trade cooperation. In this context, he informed that the recently concluded Inter-Governmental
Group meeting in Colombo began the second round of trade negotiations under the SAARC
Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA).
The Secretary-General also met the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, Farooq Sobhan and other senior officials of the government and had detailed discussions on matters relating to SAARC. They exchanged views on further strengthening the process of regional cooperation through SAARC during the second decade and also the role of the Secretariat in this regard. They discussed ways and means of strengthening the Secretariat in future with a greater role and mandate for the Secretary-General in view of the increasing responsibilities of the regional forum. They further discussed issues relating to cooperation with international and other regional organisations, including ASEAN and the European Union. The discussions also included preparatory steps and matters relating to the Ninth SAARC Summit due to be held in the Maldives.
During his stay in Dhaka, the Secretary-General also met the President of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Salman F. Rahman, and Vice President, A.K.M. Shamsuddoha. They exchanged views on issues relating to economic and trade cooperation among Member States. In particular, they discussed the role of the SAARC Chamber in this important area.
The Secretary-General attended a special function organised by the recently established South Asian News Agency (SANA) based in Dhaka. Speaking at the function at which the Bangladesh Foreign Secretary was present, the Secretary-General highlighted the role of the media in promoting cooperation in the region through greater people-to-people contact.
During the Secretary-General's visit to Bhutan from April 25-29, 1996 he was granted an audience by His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. The Secretary-General apprised the King on the on-going activities of SAARC, particularly the developments since the Eighth SAARC Summit in New Delhi in May 1995 and had discussions on a wide range of issues relating to SAARC including those before the forthcoming Ninth SAARC Summit in the Maldives.
The Secretary-General called on the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dawa Tsering, during which they had detailed discussions on all important SAARC issues. They exchanged views on the process of strengthening the role of the SAARC Secretariat in keeping with the added responsibilities assigned to it. They also focused attention on the future direction of the Association following completion of its first decade in December 1995.
The Secretary-General also called on the Minister for Trade and Industry, Om Pradhan and apprised him on the recent developments in the field of trade and economic cooperation among the Member Countries. In particular, he highlighted the steps being undertaken following operationalisation of SAPTA in December 1995 and the on-going efforts towards achieving the goal of SAFTA by the year 2000. The Secretary-General's talks with the Planning Minister, C. Dorji focused on the broad area of development issues in general and poverty alleviation in particular. They expressed satisfaction at the steady progress made by Member States in this regard.
The Secretary-General also met the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Khandu Wangchuck. During the course of discussions with the Deputy Minister, the programmes and activities being undertaken under the Technical Committee on Agriculture, including matters relating to preparation for the forthcoming World Food Summit were raised. Likewise during his meeting with the Deputy Minister of Health and Education, T.J. Rixin the on-going programmes under the Technical Committees on Health, Population Activities and Child Welfare; and Education, Culture and Sports came under discussion.
Technical Committee on Communications meets in Male'
The Fourth Meeting of the Technical Committee on Communications was held in Male' on 21-23
April, 1996. The meeting inaugurated by the Minister for Transport and Communications of
Maldives, Ahmed Zahir was attended by delegates from all Member States. Director K.C.
Namgyel represented the SAARC Secretariat.
During the three-day meeting, the Committee deliberated on various issues relating to the development of communications, both postal and telecommunications in the SAARC region. The Committee considered in-depth, the draft Memorandum of Under-standing for cooperation between SAARC and ITU. There was general consensus among the Member States on signing the MOU which would provide for ways and means of ensuring close cooperation and coordination of efforts between SAARC and ITU in implementing programmes as mutually agreed upon for the development of telecommunication in the region. However, the final decision with regard to the signing of the MOU would be taken at the next Session of the Standing Committee.
The Committee decided that the next SAARC Letter Writing Competition - the fourteenth in the series would be coordinated by Pakistan. Among other subjects, the Committee reviewed the status of activities for the year 1995-96 and also decided upon the Calendar of Activities for the Year 1996-97, which includes a three-day Seminar on Customer's Care, to be held in Pakistan in September/ October 1996; a three-day Seminar on Wireless in Local Loop "WILL" to be held in India in February 1997 and a four-day "Workshop on Postal Marketing" to be held in Bangladesh during January, 1997. The Chairmanship of the Technical Committee on Communications would now pass on to Nepal for the next two years, i.e. 1997 and 1998, under the system of rotation adopted in SAARC.
Technical Committee on Health, Population Activities and Child Welfare meets
The Fourteenth Meeting of the Technical Committee on Health, Population Activities and Child
Welfare was held in New Delhi on 30 April - 2 May 1996. The Meeting was inaugurated by J. C.
Pant, Secretary, Department of Family Welfare, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India.
The meting was attended by participants from all Member States. The SAARC Secretariat was
represented by Director, Liaquat Ali Choudhury.
The Meeting took a comprehensive set of decisions in key areas including :
(a) emerging problems in the field of communicable and non-communicable diseases and need for inter-country cooperation, and
(b) improvement of nutritional standards particularly for children and women in the SAARC region.
It also considered the possibility of planning specific SAARC initiatives in these areas. In this context, the Committee decided to designate the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in New Delhi to collect and disseminate information on a number of infectious and communicable diseases such as Malaria, Tuberculosis, New Strains of Cholera, AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Japanese Encephalitis, Dengue fever etc. The Committee designated NICD, New Delhi to act as the SAARC Focal Point for collection and dissemination of information on non-communicable diseases like cancer, cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, coronary artery disease, rheumatic heart diseases). On nutrition, the Committee stressed the need for closely monitoring the evolution in the nutrition situation in the SAARC region and the need for sustained implementation of National Nutrition Policy and Plans of Action of Member Countries focused on reducing malnutrition, enhancing household food security, provision of micro-nutrients and food fortification where necessary.
The Committee also carried out Annual Review of the Situation of Children in SAARC Countries for the year 1995 in the light of the relevant inputs collected for the purpose from all the Member Countries. The Review highlighted the significant progress achieved by SAARC countries in such areas as infant mortality, neo natal mortality, universal child immunization and enrollment for primary education during the recent years. It, however, also highlighted the necessity for undertaking further steps to make substantial progress in certain other areas where progress have been comparatively modest. In this context, the Committee recommended that Member Countries should consider additional measures to significantly reduce maternal mortality and acute manifestations of malnutrition among children and women. The Committee also recommended that the Member Countries should also step up efforts to prevent drop out of school going children especially girls from academic programmes. In order to further consolidate the gains in the key area of immunization, especially with reference to Pulse Polio Immunization, the Committee requested Member Countries to have two common dates in all the SAARC countries for Pulse Polio Immunization Campaign. Member countries were urged to designate 7 December 1996 and 11 January 1997 as Common SAARC Polio Immunization Days for the first phase of common immunisation.
TRAINS FOR WINDOWS
An updated WINDOWS'95 version (3.0) of CD-ROM TRAINS (Trade Analysis and Information
System) has been received by the Secretariat recently from UNCTAD. While the earlier version
covers only fifty countries, the updated version now covers sixty-seven countries and provides
latest information about trade and trade control measures of these countries, which includes five
SAARC Member Countries. Under the MOU signed between SAARC and UNCTAD, changes
in the trade control measures of the SAARC Member Countries are computerised and updated in
the SAARC Secretariat and provided to UNCTAD Secretariat on computer floppy discs for
incorporation in the CD-ROMs.
The other computerised trade databases available in the Secretariat are CD-ROM PC-TAS of International Trade Centre, Geneva and the DBI (Doing Business with India) developed by the Government of India. PC-TAS contains five-year time-series and trend analysis based on COMTRADE Database of UNSO; and DBI gives information, inter-alia, about the investment environment in India, about its trade policy and information about all the States and Union Territories of India.
SAARC Agricultural Information Centre
The Tenth Meeting of the Governing Board of SAARC Agricultural Information Centre (SAIC)
was held in Dhaka on April 9-11, 1996. The Meeting was attended by the Board Members from
Member States. The SAARC Secretariat was represented by Director, Prabal S.J.B. Rana
B.R. Kafle of Nepal was elected as Chairman of the Board for the year 1996-97 replacing Dr. Mangala Rai of India.
The Board noted that since the inception of SAIC in 1988, the Centre had completed the following programmes: Directory of Agricultural Institutions in SAARC Countries; Directory of Agricultural Periodicals of the SAARC Countries and updating of these two Directories; Directory of Agricultural Scientists and Technologists of the SAARC Countries; Annotated Bibliography on Agroforestry in the SAARC Region; Gender Issues in South Asian Agriculture, SAIC Progress Reports; SAIC Newsletter; Database on Fish Diseases in SAARC Countries; SAIC Bibliography on Potato; Databases on Biotechnology in SAARC Countries Agriculture and Post-harvest Technology; Reprography Bulletin Microfiche; Audio Visual Media Production on Homestead Vegetables; and Microfiche of two thousand non conventional literatures.
The Board also reviewed the progress in the on-going programmes of SAIC, i.e. renewable Energy Resources in SAARC Countries; livestock Production and Management in SAARC Countries; database on Risk Management, acquisition of Conventional and Non-Conventional publications in Agricultural fields from SAARC Member States; Microfilming and Microfiching of Non-Conventional information materials; Directory of Training Programmes (Short and Long) in SAARC Countries; Directory of Counterpart Scientists Meeting and Workshop Proceedings; Periodic Services (Current Awareness/SDI Services etc.); Audio-Visual Media Production and Reproduction of New Technologies; Study of Agricultural Information Systems and Services in SAARC Countries.
The new programmes to be taken up during 1996-97 include : Union Catalogue of holdings of Ph.D. Theses from Agricultural Universities/Deemed University Agricultural Institutions from SAARC Member Countries and holding of a regional Workshop on Agricultural Information Needs, Mode, Mechanism and Information Flow in SAARC Countries.
SAARC Meteorological Research Centre
The Second Meeting of the Governing Board of the SAARC Meteorological Research Centre
(SMRC) was held in Dhaka on 16-18 April 1996. The meeting was inaugurated by M. A. Hakim,
Secretary, Ministry of Defence of Bangladesh. Representatives from all Member States attended
the meeting. SAARC Secretariat was represented by Director, Liaquat Ali Choudhury.
The Meeting reviewed the activities of the Centre scheduled to be held during the calendar year 1995. It also finalised the work programme of the Centre for 1997 in keeping with its broad objectives to promote appropriate action and to create an opportunity for the scientists in the region to carry out extensive joint research on complex and difficult challenges in SAARC region related to weather and climate.
The Meeting decided that all efforts would be made to fully operationalise the Centre before the target date of 1998 and to that end, it took a number of decisions on the administrative and financial management of the Centre. The Board also finalised matters relating to recruitment of Professional Staff of the Centre to undertake the bulk of its substantive work. The Meeting also finalised the budget of the Centre for 1997.
SAARC Workshop on Integrated Forest Management inThimphu
A SAARC Workshop on Integrated Forest Management was held in Thimphu on 23-24 April,
1996 under the auspices of Forestry Services Division, Ministry of Agriculture of Bhutan. The
activity was financed under SAARC-Japan Special Fund. Participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka attended the Workshop.
The Workshop provided a valuable forum for exchange of information and experiences in forestry management and led to several concrete recommendations to enhance cooperation in the field. Specific areas included in the recommendations relate to strengthening the information base, exchange of successful developmental models for integrated forest management, exchange of experts and consultants, sharing of facilities (institutes, pilot demonstration areas etc.) and study tours, training courses, etc.
SAARC Secretariat attends Fifty-second Session of ESCAP
The 52nd ESCAP session focusing on the main theme of "Rural Poverty Alleviation and
Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific" was held in Bangkok on 17-24 April 1996. On
behalf of the SAARC Secretariat, Director, Ashok K. Attri attended the annual session.
Representatives of the SAARC Secretariat have been attending important meetings of ESCAP in a
consultative capacity, following signing of the Framework Agreement between SAARC and
ESCAP in February 1994.
The session devised strategies for the alleviation of rural poverty and focused on infrastructure development, issues of sustainability, and emerging issues, such as food security and the impact of the Uruguay Round of multilateral negotiations on the agricultural sector.
While in Bangkok, Mr. Attri also took the opportunity to review with the concerned officials of ESCAP the progress in the implementation of the Framework Agreement between SAARC and ESCAP, particularly in the field of trade and economic cooperation.
UNDP Team apprises the Secretariat of its Project on Poverty Alleviation
A UNDP team met the SAARC Secretary General, Naeem U. Hasan and other officials of
SAARC at the Secretariat on April 17, 1996, and briefed them on the UNDP Project "Institutional
Development at the Grassroots for Poverty Alleviation" (undp/unops/ras/94/500). Present during
the briefing were UNDP Resident Representative, Ms. Carroll Long, Shoaib Sultan Khan - UNDP
Consultant for the Project, officials from UNDP, SAARC Secretary-General and Directors from
SAARC Secretariat. In addition, all SAARC Ambassadors in Kathmandu, and concerned officials
from His Majesty's Government of Nepal also attended the briefing session.
The session was opened and chaired by the SAARC Secretary-General, who welcomed the participants to the Secretariat and briefed the participants on the developments in SAARC in the area of poverty alleviation. Secretary-General touched upon the efforts of SAARC in addressing this challenge in the regional context and highlighted that important lessons could be learnt from the success stories in the region. The UNDP Resident Representative, while making introductory remarks, gave the background of the project.
UNDP Consultant for the Project, Shoaib Sultan Khan briefed the participants on the project. He highlighted that the project was conceived as a result of the remarkable work done by the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation formed by SAARC and the strong commitment by the SAARC leaders during their Seventh Summit in 1995. He outlined the scope of the project and informed the progress so far made in Member Countries.
This Poverty Alleviation Project which is seen as the first step in a regional effort by UNDP/UNOPs in collaboration with SAARC is being presently implemented in six Member Countries, where specific districts have been identified during the initial phase of the programme. The Project is designed in keeping with the broad strategy of social mobilisation and emphasis on a pro-poor intensive agricultural development strategy with emphasis on food production by the small farmers, to be followed by decentralized, labour intensive small scale industrialization.
Dr. Jaysingh Sah, the National Project Coordinator for the project in Syangja District of Nepal shared his experience and presented the annual progress report for 1995.
Secretary-General's Round of Meetings in Nepal
SAARC Secretary-General, Naeem U. Hasan called on the following Ministers in Nepal during
April 1996:
- Minister for Home Affairs, Khum Bahadur Khadka;
- Minister of Law and Justice, Bhim Bahadur Tamang;
- Minister for General Administration, Bimalendra Nidhi;
- Minister for Health, Arjun Nursing K.C.;
- Minister for Local Development, Kamal Thapa;
- Minister for Labour, Bal Bahadur Rai;
- Minister for Works and Transport, Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar;
During the meetings, the Secretary-General apprised the Ministers of the on-going programmes and activities of SAARC. The Ministers shared their views with the Secretary-General on ways of further strengthening regional cooperation in their respective areas.
Meetings of World Tourism Organisation
Kathmandu was the venue for the thirty-third Meeting of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO)
Commission for South Asia and a Technical Seminar on Public-Private Partnership in Tourism
which were held here on 29-30 April 1996. These meetings organised by WTO, Madrid at the
invitation of His Majesty's Government of Nepal were attended by a total of 31 participants from
the region including those from Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Director, Ashok K. Attri represented the SAARC Secretariat at both the meetings, during which
he briefed the delegates about the steps being taken under the framework of SAARC for
promotion of intra-SAARC tourism and for promotion of the SAARC region as a tourist
destination.
Visitors To SAARC Secretariat
i. Delegation of Association of Exploration Geophysicists (AEG) from Hyderabad, (India) on April 3, 1996;
ii. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan, Lyonpo Dawa Tsering on April 4, 1996;
iii. Minister of Health, Highways and Social Services of Sri Lanka, A.H.M. Fowzie on April 15, 1996;
iv. Ms. Caroline Elmes, Head of South Asia Division, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, on April 19, 1996;
v. M. Dupuy, Canadian Member of Parliament and former Cabinet Minister on April 19, 1996;
vi. A delegation, comprising Richard McTaggart, Country Programme Analyst, Bangladesh Programme and Prabin Manandhar, Director Programme and Projects from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) on April 30, 1996;
vii. A delegation, comprising Edmund J. Appelbaum, First Counsellor of the delegation of the European Commission in India and Dr. Alain Vandersmissen of the South and Southeast Asia, Directorate-General IB, European Commission, Brussels, visited the SAARC Secretariat on April 30, 1996.
Other Activities held during April 1996
- Meeting of Experts on Bio-processing of Foods and Enzymes, Kathmandu.
- Seminar on the Role of Mass Media in Drug Abuse Prevention, Dhaka.
- Workshop on Production of Instructional Material for Secondary Level Science Education, Islamabad.
- Third annual meeting of Liaison Officers on Suppression of Terrorism, New Delhi.
Activities for May 1996
- SAARC Workshop on Climate Change and Enhancement of Environmental Awareness - Dhaka on 12-13 May, 1996 (under the SAARC-Japan Special Fund)
- Workshop on Urban Air Quality, Topi, Distt. Swabi, Pakistan 14-16 May 1996
- Meeting of the National Focal Points (NFPs) - SAARC Documentation Centre Cell Coordinators - RONAST, Kathmandu on 21-22 May, 1996 under the programmes/activities of SAARC Documentation Centre (SDC).
- One-week Training Workshop on Precipitation and Flood Forecasting during the Southwest Monsoon Season, at Lahore (Pakistan) from 27 May to 2 June, 1996 under SAARC-Japan Special Fund.
SAARC Newsletter is published monthly, which reports on the activities of the Association. Its contents may be reproduced without permission, although an acknowledgment would be appreciated.
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