P- SAARC Delegates Handover Declaration to SAARC Secy Gen A team of Peoples SAARC delegates met with His Excellency Mr. Arjun Bahadur Thapa, Secretary General of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) at SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu on 8 Dec 2015 and handed over him the Declaration of Peoples SAARC Regional Convergence 2014. Handing over the Declaration, Mr. Sharmila Karki, convener of the Peoples SAARC Regional Convergence, who is also the president of NGO Federation of Nepal, a national platform of NGOs in Nepal, said that the Declaration was the common voice of the south Asian people that emerged from an extensive discussion among the civil society representatives across the region. She also drew attention of the SAARC Secretary General that though the SAARC Declaration endorsed by the south Asian heads of the states was inclusive, intended to address the regional problem and advocated for development, peace, and prosperity; the implementation aspects were poor. SAARC and member states need to seriously think about effective implementation of what they agree upon during each SAARC summit, Ms. Karki said. She also urged the SAARC to provide space to the civil society in the formal SAARC process and its summit. She was of a view that the SAARC should mainstream peoples issues and ensure representation of civil society in SAARC, further stating that without the support of people, development efforts of the state cannot gear up. Receiving the Peoples SAARC Declaration, His Excellency Mr. Arjun Bahadur Thapa appreciated the efforts of CSOs to identify the regional agendas. He also expressed his commitment that the input of the Declaration will be given to the respective SAARC countries so that they could link their priorities to the issues raised by the civil society. He also said that he will try to find ways to connect civil society to the SAARC to provide space to them. Informing that that new agendas such as issue of migration, have got entry in the SAARC Declaration in 18th summit, he said that SAARC would take initiation to make member states responsible to implement the Declaration they sign during each summit. The delegates of Peoples SAARC included members of working and organizing committees of Peoples SAARC Regional Convergence 2014 who are immediately available in Kathmandu. Ms. Sharmila Karki, Mr. Sarba Raj Khadka, Ms. Shanta Laxmi Shrestha, Mr. Samir Nepal, Mr. Gopal Khanal, Mr. Kedar Khadka, Mr. Bhawani Kharel, Mr. Daya Sagar Shrestha and Mr. Bigyan Sharma were among the delegates. The three day People’s SAARC Convergence was concluded in Lalitpur on 24 November 2014 issuing a Declaration and reaffirming its solemn commitments toward justice, peace, security, human rights, and democracy in the region for equality for all and to eliminate all forms of discrimination.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 04:48:16 +0000
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