VOL.VII NO.6
JUNE 1996

 SECRETARY-GENERAL COMPLETES HIS INTRODUCTORY VISITS TO ALL MEMBER COUNTRIES

SAARC Secretary-General Naeem U Hasan completed his introductory visits to all member states, the last two being Pakistan (June 3-5, 1996) and India (June 24-26, 1996).

During his visit to Pakistan, the Secretary-General called on Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and briefed her about the latest SAARC activities and initiatives undertaken by him to promote and further strengthen regional cooperation. The Secretary-General also briefed the Prime Minister on the forthcoming SAARC Ministerial Conference on Children, the Ninth SAARC Summit in the Maldives, SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA), Cooperation with other International Organizations and initiatives taken by the SAARC Secretariat on collection and dissemination of economic and trade data.

The Prime Minister reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to SAARC and the SAARC process. Emphasizing that Pakistan had demonstrated its commitment to SAARC in a number of important ways in the last three years, the Prime Minister said that she looked forward to fruitful cooperation between the member states. Secretary-General also called on President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari and briefed the President on a number of on-going activities and programmes within the framework of SAARC.

During his calls on the Foreign Minister and the Foreign Secretary, he briefed them on his visits to other member states. He also informed them of the initiatives taken by him to strengthen the Secretariat and improve its functioning. Other issues discussed during the meetings included

those relating to the Ministerial Conference on children scheduled to be held in Pakistan in August, SAPTA, Poverty Eradication, Second Meeting of the Commerce Ministers, Second SAARC Trade Fair, the forthcoming SAARC Conference on Cooperation in Police Matters and cooperation with international and regional organizations.

Secretary-General also called on Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Sector Begum Shahnaz Wazir Ali, and briefed her on the activities of the Association and the Secretariat. He also discussed with her the ongoing preparatory work for the Third Ministerial Conference on Children to be hosted by Pakistan and its preceding meetings.

During the visit, the Secretary-General apprised the European Ambassadors based in Islamabad on the cooperative endeavours among the SAARC member states as well as cooperation with regional and international organizations. The Secretary-General also attended a tripartite meeting arranged by UNICEF to discuss various arrangements regarding the Third Ministerial Conference on Children, scheduled to be held in Pakistan. The Meeting was attended by the representatives of the Government of Pakistan, UNICEF and the SAARC Secretariat.

Secretary-General also utilized this visit to meet the Minister of Commerce, Minister of Defence and Tourism, Secretaries for Science and Technology and Commerce of Pakistan, and exchanged views on matters of mutual interest.

Continuing his introductory tour of member states, the Secretary-General visited India where he called on the Prime Minister of India and current Chairman of SAARC H. D. Deve Gowda and briefed him about the ongoing activities under the SAARC framework. The Prime Minister assured the Secretary-General of his government's commitment and support towards the promotion and expansion of regional cooperation in South Asia under the framework of SAARC. The Prime Minister expressed the need to strengthen and further accelerate the process of liberalization of trade in the SAARC region for the welfare of its peoples and expressed his strong support for an early realisation of the South Asian Free Trade Area. He also expressed hope that social development programmes under SAARC will be further strengthened. The Secretary-General briefed the Indian Prime Minister about the preparations underway for the Ninth SAARC Summit to be held in the Maldives next year.

The Secretary-General also called on the Minister of External Affairs and current Chairman of the SAARC Council of Ministers Inder Kumar Gujral and the Minister of Finance P. Chidambaram. He took the opportunity to brief them about the progress achieved in the implementation of SAPTA, eradication of poverty and other on-going activities of SAARC. The Secretary-General also exchanged views with the Foreign Secretary of India Salman Haidar and the Commerce Secretary Tejendra Khanna, who are currently the Chairmen of the SAARC Standing Committee and the SAARC Committee on Economic Cooperation respectively.

The Secretary-General visited the SAARC Documentation Centre based in New Delhi and discussed matters relating to the activities of the Centre with its Director, Prof. T. Viswanathan.


TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, CULTURE AND SPORTS CONVENES ITS THIRD MEETING

The Third Meeting of Technical Committee on Education, Culture and Sports was held in Dhaka on June 22-24, 1996, with the participation from all member states.

The Meeting was inaugurated by Secretary, Ministry of Education, A.H.M. Abdul Hye, who in his statement stated that the Technical Committee is not merely the forum for exchange of views and experiences but more importantly, a mechanism to identify areas of cooperation either through collective efforts or through coordinated national efforts. On behalf of the SAARC Secretariat, Director Ranjith P. Jayasooriya made a statement in which he highlighted the issues that needed to be addressed during the meeting.

The Committee reviewed the implementation of activities since its Second Meeting and noted that the Workshop on Future Directions on Technical Education and Vocational Training, (Kathmandu, August 8-9, 1995), Workshop on Educational Planners and Administrators on District Education Projects, (New Delhi, August 21-26, 1995), SAARC Seminar on the Role of Media Communication for Literacy, Post Literacy and Continuing Education, (New Delhi, September 5-7, 1995), and Workshop on Development of Sports in the Region, (Colombo, October 25-27, 1995) were held successfuly with popular participation from member states.

The Committee reviewed the current status of implementation of decisions on the recommendations of the seven priority themes i.e Women and Education; Universal Primary Education; Literacy, Post Literacy and Continuing Education; Educational Research; Science and Technical Education; Education for the Underserved Areas and Distance Education. It noted that while Nodal Agencies had been identified by each country, efforts at Networking and sending Action Plans to the regional coordinators had not been started in all countries. The Committee laid special emphasis on expediting the formulation of Action Plans during 1996 under the seven priority themes focusing on eradication of illiteracy from the region preferably by the year 2000. It may be recalled that 1996 had been declared by the SAARC leaders as the SAARC Year of Literacy.

With regard to the SAARC Chairs, Fellowships and Scholarships Scheme, the Committee was of the view that the forthcoming Meeting of the Group of Experts on SAARC Chairs, Fellowships and Scholarships Scheme in Colombo in July 1996 would be instrumental in making this scheme more effective and beneficial to the member states.

In the field of Culture, the Committee decided to have an Anthology of Short Stories of SAARC countries published. The Committee was of the view that plans could be formulated and multi-media network through databases developed for establishing networking arrangements in the field of archaeology, archivolovy, museology and historical studies.

The Committee noted that the SAARC Drumming and Dance Festival would be held in Colombo in August 1996 and the Theatre Festival in Dhaka at the end of the year.

The Committee proposed to organise a SAARC Cup Cricket Tournament, in 1996/97 symbolising solidarity among member states to commemorate the First Decade of SAARC. The Tournament would be held thereafter once in four years.


FIFTEENTH MEETING OF THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE.

The Fifteenth Meeting of the Technical Committee on Agriculture was held in Thimphu from June 11-12, 1996 with the participation from all member states. SAARC Secretariat was represented by Director Liaquat Ali Choudhury.

The meeting was inaugurated by Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Bhutan Dasho Khandu Wangchuk. In his inaugural address, he emphasized the need for collective SAARC initiatives to make best use of the resource endowments of the region as well as the wealth of scientific and technological knowledge to accelerate the development of the agriculture sector in the region. SAARC activities, he stressed, would be much more fruitful if increasing emphasis is laid on result-oriented programmes in keeping with the stipulations of the SAARC Charter. He also noted that programmes in agricultural sector should increasingly focus on transfer of technology, human resources development and harnessing of natural resources in the region. Given that research and extension are crucial to the development of the agricultural sector, he also observed that these two should be the core areas of cooperation.

The meeting held extensive discussions on a wide range of issues. It also took a number of important decisions with significant bearing for regional cooperation in South Asia in the key sector of agriculture. It decided to prepare a precise list of priorities for its future activities and stressed that all its future activities should conform to this list of priorities. The meeting also recommended that all future activities of the Committee should conform to this list drawn up by duly taking into account the important common concerns of the member states. During this Meeting, the participants from member countries also considered a number of concrete programmes and projects for implementation by all member countries. Discussion on these projects highlighted the crucial importance of adequate funds for implementation of the projects and the necessity to make best use of expertise and know-how available in the SAARC countries. The participants in the Meeting also underscored the importance of establishing networking arrangements among specialists in the region and various institutions working for the sustained development of the agricultural sector. It was also felt that if the networking arrangements are so established they would significantly contribute to the improvement and interaction and communication among the identified focal points. The Committee also considered and adopted its Calendar of Activities for 1996-97 in which a number of short term activities on areas such as sustainable development of arid lands, use of animal wastes in vegetable cultivation, green manure and legumes, trans-Himalayan fish species, and efficient use of fertilizer for crop production were included.

The Committee, welcomed the offer of Pakistan to host a high level meeting prior to the World Food Summit scheduled to be held in November 1996 in Rome to prepare a SAARC collective position on different issues before the Summit.


TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR REGIONAL/DISTRICT TB PROGRAMME COORDINATORS

A Training Programme for Regional/District TB Programme Coordinators from SAARC member countries was organized by SAARC Tuberculosis Centre, (STC) in Kathmandu from June 4-8, 1996. A total of nine participants from Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka attended the programme.

The five-day programme was designed to provide further training to Regional/District TB Programme Coordinators to enhance their skills and knowledge in implementing effectively National TB Control Programme in their respective countries.

The programme was inaugurated by Director SAARC Secretariat Kunzang C. Namgyel, at a function held in STC on June 4, 1996. In her inaugural address Mrs. Namgyel while highlighting the many activities organized by STC during its short span of time, noted that TB being a very serious health problem in the region, member countries have given high priority to the control of the disease. Deputy Director Dr. P. Kumar, in his statement emphasized the need for continued training in TB control to build adequate trained manpower to tackle the problem effectively.

Training material developed by the Centre on the basis of specific regional needs, was effectively utilised to train the participants. The programmes covered topical issues like Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, current strategy of diagnosis and management of Tuberculosis and problems of drug resistant Tuberculosis in the region.

Upon completion of the programme on June 8, 1996, Director, STC Dr. D.S. Bam awarded certificates to the trainees.


SAARC WORKSHOP ON OPEN LEARNING

A SAARC Workshop on Open Learning was held in Colombo, on 26-28 June, 1996. The three-day workshop which had as its theme "Open Learning as a model are the challenges of education in the 21st century." was attended by participants from Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The workshop provided the opportunity for participants to share experiences, identify common problems, and seek solutions in the field of education in the SAARC countries. Discussions at the workshop also focused on developing a common strategy to the multiplicity of learning needs through Open Learning. Among others, the workshop led to the development of closer relations between Open Learning Institutions in the region.


EXPERTS MEET PRIOR TO THE THIRD SAARC MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON CHILDREN OF SOUTH ASIA

An Expert Group Meeting preceding the Third SAARC Ministerial Conference on Children of South Asia was held in Rawalpindi on June 26-27, 1996 with the participation of all member states, SAARC Secretariat and UNICEF. In her inaugural address, Secretary, Ministry of Women Development and Youth Affairs, Ms. Salma Waheed, highlighted that the SAARC region has been playing a significant role in supporting the cause of children, particularly in their survival, development and protection. Recalling that the organized efforts of the region started with the First SAARC Ministerial Conference on Children on South Asia in 1986, in New Delhi, she highlighted that SAARC member states were amongst the first to endorse the World Summit Declaration on Children and ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. She further added that the time has come to assess and review the progress made so far.

Member states presented country papers on the actions taken by them on the recommendations and decisions taken at the earlier SAARC meetings on matters relating to children of South Asia. The leader of UNICEF delegation presented a report on the consultative process undertaken by UNICEF in member states for identification of issues and preparation of inputs for the background paper to be considered by the meeting. The meeting considered the factual background papers prepared by the SAARC Secretariat and decided that it may be circulated as a conference document prior to the ministerial conference.

The meeting accepted the offer of Pakistan, as the host country to prepare draft background papers on seven themes taking into account UNICEF's inputs and views and comments of the member states expressed at the sub-group meetings. It was also decided that the draft background papers would be finalized at the preparatory meeting to be held in Pakistan on July 24-25, 1996.

The meeting also decided the terms of reference for the working groups to be constituted during the ministerial conference.


FIRST MEETING OF THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE SOUTH ASIAN DEVELOPMENT FUND (SADF)

The Governing Board of the recently established SADF held its first meeting in Dhaka on 17-18 June 1996. Board members from all the member countries attended the meeting. Director Tahir Iqbal Butt represented the SAARC Secretariat at the meeting.

Managing Director, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and Chief Executive of Bangladesh Development Financing Institution (DFI) Khairul Huda was elected as Chairman of the Governing Board. In his welcome address, He highlighted the significance of SADF and its future role and responsibility.

SADF established with the aim of developing common economic interest amongst SAARC member countries by promoting economic projects involving more than one member country, has three windows, i.e (i) for Identification and Development of Projects (WIDP); (ii) for Institutional and Human Resources Development Projects (WIHRDP); and (iii) for Social and Infrastructural Development Projects (WSIDP).

The meeting considered such issues as Terms of Reference and operational modalities of the Second and Third Windows of SADF, mobilisation of Funds as well as modalities of the functioning of SAARC Fund for Regional Projects which had functioned separately until the establishment of the Fund.


SAARC-ESCAP JOINT ORIENTATION

WORKSHOP :
SAARC SEVEN SISTERS:

DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION AND IMPROVED POVERTY PROJECT DESIGN.

A four-day workshop, participated by representatives from SAARC countries, SAARC Secretariat, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) and UNDP was held at the SAARC Secretariat, Kathmandu from 26 to 29 June 1996. The workshop was conceived as a part of the project "SAARC Seven Sisters : District Development Coordination and Improved Poverty Project Design". The project was launched by the Secretary-General of SAARC on 26 June 1996 and Vice-Chairman, National Planning Commission of Nepal Prithivi Raj Ligal, was the Chief Guest on the occasion. The Ambassadors of the SAARC countries, members of the diplomatic corps and senior officials of His Majesty's Government of Nepal were also present.

The workshop discussed various aspects of creating district-level fora in each of the six selected districts of SAARC countries participating in the project. These fora are conceived to help bring together concerned development agencies and other actors involved with the poverty eradication programmes at the grass-root level. The workshop recommended the ideal set up of such fora which could involve government institutions, local authorities, and organizations of the poor. The workshop also suggested the creation of a sub-regional networking of the district-level fora created in the participating countries.

The workshop recommended that the district-level fora in the six identified districts of SAARC member countries should be immediately constituted on a trial basis to ascertain their practicability and relevance in the local context in order to attain maximum impact in terms of improvement in the designing and implementation of poverty eradication programmes, enhanced coordination of all the relevant agencies and proper reflection of the priority needs of the poor in the planned activities through initiating a participatory planning process.

It was suggested that the recommendations of the workshop should be taken up by the member countries for further follow-up action. ESCAP and other relevant UN agencies plan to follow-up on the project with a number of review meetings during the current calendar year. SAARC would also continue to be associated with these efforts within the framework of its various activities devoted to eradicating poverty from the region. Active participation of the member states is envisaged under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between SAARC and ESCAP.


JOINT TV AND RADIO PROGRAMMES ON "1996 - SAARC YEAR OF LITERACY"

Producers from SAARC member states met in Colombo on 25-26 June 1996 to finalise details regarding joint TV and Radio programmes on "1996 - SAARC Year of Literacy". The meeting was attended by Producers from Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The two-day meeting decided on the duration of the programmes, elements to be covered while preparing respective country inputs for the joint productions, and the time-frame for their completion. It was agreed that the programmes would be completed in time for them to be previewed/auditioned during the forthcoming Fifteenth SAARC Audio Visual Exchange Committee meeting in Colombo in September 1996, where the date of telecast/broadcast will also be decided.

The All India Radio is coordinating the production of the radio programme, while Pakistan Television is coordinating the TV production.

Production of joint TV and radio programmes to mark designated SAARC years has been a regular feature of SAVE.


TRAINING WORKSHOP ON PRECIPITATION AND FLOOD FORECASTING DURING THE SOUTH WEST MONSOON SEASON

A training workshop on precipitation and flood forecasting during the South West Monsoon was held in Lahore on 10-16 June 1996. A total of 11 participants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka attended the workshop, which was funded by the SAARC Japan Special Fund. Director-General, Meteorological Service of Bangladesh, S A M Farooq was the Chief Guest at the inaugural session.

The workshop provided the participants with the opportunity to share knowledge and experiences in this vital field. Experienced persons in the field of hydrology and flood forecasting delivered lectures which were followed by discussions. The week-long programme included topics such as Flood forecasting models and exercises, weather radar requirements for flood forecasting, relation between precipitable water and monsoon rainfall, and introduction of hydrological system.


SAARC SEMINAR ON PREDICTABILITY OF MONSOONAL RAIN AND FLOODING

The SAARC Seminar on Predictability of Monsoon Rain and Flooding was held in Dhaka on June 19-21 1996. A total of 25 participants attended the seminar, which was inaugurated by Secretary, Ministry of Defence, M A Hakim, who in his inaugural address highlighted the relevance of the subject to the region which has a large majority of its people dependent on weather conditions.

A number of renowned scientists from Bangladesh chaired technical sessions of the seminar, which included topics such as

i) meteorological aspects of monsoonal rain and predictability,
ii) monsoonal rainfall and its socio-economic impacts, and
iii) floods and flood forecasting. Country reports were presented by participants and were followed by discussions and exchange of ideas. A video presentation on early warning systems was also provided during the seminar.

A set of recommendations were adopted at the conclusion of the Seminar. These relate to inter-alia, enhancing exchange of information and experiences on various aspects of weather prediction, through more frequent contacts between the concerned agencies in member countries.


SEMINAR ON PRIVATISATION IN THE ROAD SECTOR HELD

The SAARC Seminar on Privatisation in Road Sector attended by 27 participants from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka was held in New Delhi from 20-22 June 1996. The two-day seminar included a number of technical discussions followed by visits to some construction sites in Delhi on 22 June 1996.

The Seminar was inaugurated by Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, Ministry of Surface Transport, S N Kakar, who in his address highlighted the need for development of roads and pointed out that in view of the constraints of government resources, it had become imperative to involve the private sector participation in the development, maintenance and operation of highway under the Built-Operation Transfer concept. (BOT)

The Seminar had five technical sessions which covered Planning and Development of BOT projects, Legal issues, Financing, Risk Management of BOT projects and Case Studies. Participants presented country papers giving overview of road development scenarios in their respective countries. These presentations were followed by intensive discussions among the participants.

The Seminar highlighted that the concept of BOT in SAARC countries was relatively new and that there was a need to evolve suitable policy guidelines in this regard learning from the experiences of many other countries which have already gone for privatisation. The deliberations during the discussion brought out that there were still grey areas, which would need to be sorted out through interaction among the government, the private entrepreneurs, financers and road users. The urgent need to prepare model bidding documents and concession agreement for BOT projects and also establish regulatory and monitoring bodies to oversee the performance of such projects was also highlighted.


MEETING OF THE GROUP OF EXPERTS ON TRIPARTITE STUDY

A meeting of SAARC Group of Experts for conducting the Tripartite Study for Expansion of Economic Cooperation including Sub-regional Cooperation and Informal Trade took place in New Delhi on June 6-7, 1996. The meeting conducted its deliberations under the Chairmanship of Director, Research and Information System for the Non-Aligned and other Developing countries. Dr. V.R. Panchamukhi. 31 experts from Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka participated in the meeting. The SAARC Secretariat was represented by Director Ashok K. Attri. In his address he outlined the mandate of the meeting as given by the SAARC Committee on Economic Cooperation and SAARC Council of Ministers. The meeting deliberated, inter-alia, on steps to be taken for expansion of economic cooperation and for moving from SAPTA to SAFTA.

Former Foreign Secretary of India, Prof. Muchkund Dubey, in his address, strongly advocated that the process of moving from SAPTA to SAFTA should be placed on a fast-track and urged that the member countries should take many more bolder initiatives in this regard. Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs of India , Kamalesh Sharma emphasised that there is need for adopting totality of approach by considering the capital flows, movement of natural persons, technology transfer, business networking and information flows in an integrated framework.

The pace of cooperation process, interdependence of policies, transport infrastructure, trade financing and payment clearing mechanism were among the sixteen areas identified by the Group of Experts which require in-depth studies in their view. The meeting also decided upon the modalities of conducting the preliminary study. Each member of the Group would organise tripartite brainstorming sessions with the involvement of representatives of academic sector, governments, industry, banking productivity organisations etc., for indepth discussion on various subjects and for exchange of information and views.


NEW DIRECTOR JOINS THE SECRETARIAT

Suresh Prasad Pradhan joined the SAARC Secretariat on 1 July 1996 as Director replacing Prabal S J B Rana. Mr. Pradhan, a career Foreign Service Officer of His Majesty's Government of Nepal served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal as Undersecretary in the SAARC Division. Earlier he also served as Charge d' Affaires in the Royal Nepalese Embassy in Myanmar for about two years.


ACTIVITIES IN JULY 1996

1. SAARC Philatelic Exhibition cum Seminar - July 17-18, 1996, Colombo
2. Preparatory Meeting preceding the Third SAARC Ministerial Conference on Children of South Asia - July 24-25, 1996, Islamabad.
3. Meeting of the Group of Experts to Review SAARC Chairs, Fellowships, and Scholarships Scheme - July 26-27, 1996, Colombo
4. SAARC Conference on Cooperation in Police Matters-July 29-31,1996, Colombo.
5. Seminar/Workshop on Leather and Leather Products- July 31-August 1, 1996, Karachi.


SAARC Newsletter is published monthly, and reports on the activities of the Association. Its contents may be reproduced without permission, although an acknowledgement would be appreciated.


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