South Asian regional consultative meeting begins
Kathmandu / December 14: A two-day South Asian Regional Consultative on preparing a framework for the 10th Asia Pacific Regional Ministerial Conference to be held in Jakarta of Indonesia in 2016 kicked off today in the capital city.
Organized by the National Cooperatives Association, the event is being attended by as high as 60 participants from various SAARC countries including Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and India among others.
The seminar is likely to lay a foundation for formulating strategy for the development and promotion of cooperatives in the Asia Pacific region which is believed to be useful for the concerned governments and the United Nations’ Organizations for the same.
Inaugurating the seminar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation Chitra Bahadur KC expressed his belief that the seminar will determine an important basis for the upcoming ministerial-level conference of the Pacific region.
Minister KC further said that this Conference would device programmes to ensure inclusive and sustainable development of the SAARC countries through cooperatives as the SAARC forum has already pledged to form a regional forum on Cooperatives. He pledged that the formulation of the acts and policies related to cooperatives would be expedited.
Parliamentarian and Chief of National Cooperatives Association Keshav Prasad Badal argued that since the April 25 earthquake caused financial loss worth billions leaving thousands adversely affected, the cooperatives would serve as an apt remedy for the economic loss of both an individual and the country.
Also speaking on the occasion, Chief Secretary Dr Somlal Subedi blamed the political instability for stagnancy of the economic growth. Likewise, Arjun Bahadur Thapa, General-Secretary of the SAARC Secretariat, spoke of the need to regulate and manage cooperatives for poverty alleviation in the SAARC region. The 18th SAARC Summit held in Kathmandu in 2014 had also determined cooperatives as the key to poverty alleviation, it was shared. RSS