Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina poses with other heads of state and government of SAARC region during a photo session at the 18th SAARC Summit in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu on Thursday. PID Photo KATHMANDU: The SAARC leaders on Thursday expressed their firm determination to deepen regional integration for peace and prosperity in South Asia by intensifying cooperation in trade, investment, finance, energy, security, infrastructure, connectivity and culture, reports BSS. In a 36-point declaration issued after the end of the 18th SAARC Summit here, they also expressed their commitment to implementing projects, programmes and activities in a prioritised, result-oriented and time-bound manner. The South Asian leaders unequivocally condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations and underlined the need for effective cooperation among the member states to combat them. They directed respective authorities to ensure full and effective implementation of the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and its Additional Protocol, including through enacting necessary legislations at the national level to root out terrorism. The SAARC leaders also reiterated their call for an early conclusion of a UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism. They also agreed to take effective measures to combat illicit trafficking of narcotics and psychotropic substances, arms smuggling, money laundering, counterfeit currency and other transnational crimes and agreed to establish a cyber crime monitoring desk. The SAARC leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the principles and objectives of the SAARC for ensuring the quality of life of the people of South Asia. They also recognised that after nearly 30 years of its existence, it is time to reinvigorate SAARC’s regional cooperation and revitalise SAARC as an effective vehicle to fulfil the developmental aspirations of the region. The SAARC leaders renewed their commitment to achieve South Asian Economic Union in phased and planned manner through a free trade area, a customs union, a common market and common economic and monetary union. They acknowledged that SAARC member states, particularly the least developed and land-locked member states, face structural constraints and challenges that result in their weak productive capacity affecting their competitiveness in external trade due to, among this, high trade and transit cost. The SAARC leaders committed to enhancing support to the least developed and landlocked member states in their development efforts with a view to ensuring equitable benefits of free trade agreements. In this context, they agreed to effectively implement the existing preferential facilities under SAFTA and SATIS. The SAARC leaders agreed to strengthening the social window of SAARC Development Fund and operationalise its economic and infrastructural windows at the earliest for the effective implementation of regional and sub-regional projects. The leaders directed the relevant SAARC bodies and mechanisms to identify the regional and sub-regional projects in the area of power generation, transmission and power trade including hydropower, natural gas, solar, wind and biofuel and implement them with high priority with a view to meeting the increasing demand of power in the region. They reiterated their strong commitment to free South Asia from poverty and directed the ministerial and secretary-level mechanisms on poverty alleviation to review the progress and revisit the SAARC Plan of Action and its effective implementation and also taking into account the post-2015 development agenda. The heads of state or government agreed to increase investment, promote research and development and facilitate technical cooperation and apply innovative, appropriate and reliable technologies in the agriculture sector for enhancing productivity to ensure food and nutritional security in the region. They also underscored the importance of promoting sustainable agriculture and directed to eliminate the threshold criteria from the SAARC Food Bank Agreement so as to enable the member states to avail foodgrains during both emergency and normal time food difficulty. On environment issues, the SAARC leaders directed the relevant bodies and mechanisms for effective implementation of SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters, SAARC Convention on Cooperation Environment and Thimpu Statement on Climate Change, including taking into account the existential threats posed by climate change to some SAARC member states. They r=ecognised the manifold contributions of ocean-based Blue Economy in the SAARC region and the need for collaboration and partnership in this area. The South Asian leaders recognised the importance of achieving universal health education, improving health regulatory systems, preparedness for emerging and re emerging diseases and the challenges posed by anti-microbial resistance and non-communicable diseases. About education, they expressed their resolve to eliminating illiteracy from the region in line with the global goal of education for all ensuring quality education in all institutions by reforming curricula, teaching methods and evaluation systems adequately supported by physical, technical and other facilities. The SAARC leaders emphasised the need for adopting appropriate national policies and programmes for utilising the youth force and their skills for economic and social development, especially through the creation of productive self-employment opportunities. They directed the relevant authorities to take effective measures for preventing trafficking in women and children and their exploitation. The leaders, recognising the reach and influence of media, urged both public and private media to share responsibility in the efforts towards promoting understanding and cohesiveness of the SAARC member states and their people. The heads of state or government acknowledged the need for enhancing the visibility and stature of SAARC in international fora, forging common positions on issues of mutual interests and seeking group recognition in various multilateral institutions. They directed the all SAARC bodies, including the council of ministers, sectoral ministerial, other bodies and institutions to develop outcome-oriented policies, programmes, projects and activities. Meanwhile, speaking at a press conference at Raddison Hotel media centre, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, media adviser to the prime minister, highlighted the outcome of the 18th SAARC Summit. He said the SAARC leaders at the summit reiterated their commitment to stamping out militancy, terrorism and transnational crimes to ensure peace, progress and prosperity in the region. The South Asian leaders also agreed to establish good governance and continue democracy in their respective country, he said. About the landmark SAARC Framework Agreement on Energy Cooperation signed on Thursday, Iqbal Sobhan said the deal has opened up a new horizon in the field of regional cooperation. “All the eight nations would benefit from this deal,” he said. About the SAARC Agreement on Motor Vehicles and another Agreement on Railway Service, which were supposed to be signed in this year’s Summit, he said the ministers concerned of the SAARC nations would sit in three months’ time to finalise them.
No comments:
Post a Comment