Secretary-General opens Regional Policy Dialogue on Adolescents
H.E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary - General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) opened ‘The Regional Policy Dialogue on Adolescents in South Asia’ in Kathmandu today.

In his opening statement, the Secretary-General stated, “The first decade of this Century was designated as the SAARC Decade of the Rights of the Child. In 2011, SAARC and UNICEF produced a report assessing the progress towards children’s rights in the region. This report was launched at the Seventeenth SAARC Summit held in Addu City of Maldives in November 2011. One of the eight recommendations of that Report called for enhanced investment in quality education, health and social services that respect, protect and fulfill adolescents’ rights. The related action points called for strong leadership to address harmful social norms, investment in education and life skills, mechanisms to encourage adolescents’ voice and participation, and integrated and inter-sectoral approaches to programming for adolescents, particularly for girls and the most marginalized."
In his Address, the Secretary-General further stated, "The Dialogue provides a forum for all stakeholders to work towards addressing the recommendations of the Assessment Report of the SAARC Decade of the Rights of the Child, with special emphasis on the prevalent adolescent policies and strategies in the SAARC countries."

Mr. Ibrahim Zuhuree, Director, who heads the Social Affairs Division at the Secretariat, made introductory remarks at the Inaugural Session. Ms. Karin Hulshof, Regional Director, UNICEF Office for South Asia delivered welcome remarks. On behalf of adolescents, Ms. Mehaki Thapa, Child Advisory Board Member for Child Workers in Nepal and Member of Child Rights Forum, made a special presentation at the Inaugural Session. Ms. Helen Cahill, Associate Professor in Student Wellbeing and Deputy Director, Youth Research Center, University of Melbourne, Australia delivered the keynote address.

The Regional Policy Dialogue on Adolescents brings together policy-makers, academia, civil society organizations and adolescents themselves to debate and agree on concrete policy actions aimed at respecting, protecting and fulfilling the rights of adolescent girls and boys in the region. This initiative is a product of SAARC's longstanding collaboration with UNICEF.

The Sixth South Asia Economic Summit opened in Colombo, Sri Lanka, today. The Summit concludes on 4 September 2013.

The Summit brings together eminent personalities from academia, government, civil society, private sector and media from the Member States of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It also has participation from experts and resource persons drawn from other organizations and countries.

Hosted by the Institute of Policy Studies, an apex think tank of Sri Lanka, the theme of the three-day Summit is “Towards a stronger, dynamic & inclusive South Asia.” 

Addressing the Summit, H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary-General of SAARC stated, “South Asia Economic Summits have been an important platform for the South Asian researchers, academicians, businesspersons, government representatives, among others, to exchange views on issues having a direct bearing on economic integration of our region. I am happy to mention that the previous five summits have been instrumental in generating views and ideas for consideration of the policy makers in our region.”

“I am glad to note that this Summit, which is the sixth in the series, will be devoted to thematic issues as harnessing human capital, managing water resources, food security and climate change, addressing intra-country growth disparities and building competitiveness of the private sector. As all these issues are very pertinent the SAARC process, I remain confident that this Summit will provide a great food for thought for our decision-makers in the region,” the Secretary-General said in his Address at the opening of the Summit. 

Hon. Dew Gunasekera, Senior Minister for Human Resources of Sri Lanka inaugurated the Summit. Hon. Ahsan Iqbal Chowdhury, Federal Minister for Planning of Pakistan delivered a special address at the Summit’s Inaugural Session. Dr. Saman Kalegama, Executive Director, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka delivered a welcome statement.

Launched in 2008, the South Asia Economic Summit is the premier regional platform for dialogue and debate on socio-economic issues facing South Asia. Each year, the Summit tackles the critical issues, develops new insights, and generates ideas on policy priorities for consideration of the region’s decision-makers.

The Fifth South Asia Economic Summit was held in Islamabad, Pakistan in September 2012, while the Fourth South Asia Economic Summit was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in October 2011.

H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary-General of SAARC, received Mr. Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director, Nepal Resident Mission of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at his office yesterday.

The Country Director was accompanied by Mr. Priyantha Wijayatunga, Unit Head, Portfolio Management Unit of the Nepal Resident Mission. Mr. Ahmar Ismail, Director, SAARC Secretariat was also present.

During the meeting, the Country Director handed over to the Secretary-General the SAARC Study on the South Asia Power Exchange that was recently published by ADB. The Study, the first of its kind, opens up a myriad of windows for collaboration among the Member States of SAARC in the important field of energy.

The Secretary-General thanked ADB for extending technical and financial assistance to SAARC in the preparation of the Study. He expressed confidence that the Study will go a long way in harnessing the energy potential of the region to the common benefit of SAARC’s membership. “It is a great leap forward in an important component of regional cooperation as energy,” he asserted.

The Study that runs into some 200 plus pages was published by ADB in June 2013. It was finalized during the Seventh Meeting of the SAARC Working Group on Energy held in Sri Lanka in March 2013.  The Study, inter alia, identifies possible cross border power transmission interconnections and scenarios of regionally interconnected power systems; brings to the fore scenarios for nodal point supply and demand in the region covered or to be covered by interconnected power systems; determines the technical potential for cross border power exchanges, the additional power transmission required, and the institutional, regulatory and commercial principles and procedures to be followed in formalized cross border power trade; and carries out the economic and financial analyses of different power trade options with the perspective of (a) optimization of resources at regional level (b) improving overall reliability of electric supply in the region and (c) environmental benefits.

The Twelfth SAARC Summit held in Islamabad in 2004 embraced energy as one of its priority areas of cooperation. The same Summit directed that a study on creating a South Asian Energy Cooperation including the concept of an Energy Ring be undertaken.  Following this directive, SAARC had prepared the Regional Energy Trade Study with the technical and financial assistance of ADB in March 2010. The Study recognized the benefits of establishing a regional power market for enhancing regional energy trade in the region.

The present Study is therefore a sequel to the recommendation of the erstwhile Study conducted in March 2010. The Study was authorized by the Thirty-seventh Session of the Standing Committee held in Thimphu in April 2010, preceding the Sixteenth SAARC Summit.

H. E. Mr. Ahmed Saleem, Secretary-General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) called on Hon. Rabindra Kumar Shakya, Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission of Nepal at the latter’s office today.

During the meeting, the Secretary-General apprised the Vice-Chairman of the ongoing efforts of the SAARC Secretariat aimed at the alleviation of poverty in the region. These included initiatives as publication of the Regional Poverty Profiles (RPPs), 2009-10 and 2011-12 on the themes “Food Security Challenges for the Poor and Social Inclusion” and “SAARC Development Goals (SDGs) Achievements” respectively; holding of an Inter-Governmental Expert Group at the Secretariat in September 2013 to discuss achievements of SDGs; holding of a Workshop to formulate SAARC’s position on Post-2015 Development Agenda; and convening of a Symposium on Best Practices on Poverty Alleviation in South Asia.

The Secretary-General also briefed the Vice Chairman about the impending initiatives of the SAARC Secretariat as SAARC Handicraft Development Centre; Highland Food Security with high value chains in South Asia; and Urban Poverty Management.

Welcoming the presentation of the Secretary-General, the Vice Chairman pledged the support of the Government of Nepal towards the initiatives of the SAARC Secretariat in reducing poverty in the region, to which, he added, Nepal also attached high priority at the national level.

Mr. Dhan Bahadur Oli, Director, who heads the Poverty Alleviation Division at the Secretariat, was also present at the meeting.

Established in December 1985 with the primary objective of improving the welfare of the people of South Asia, SAARC comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as its members. At the Twelfth SAARC Summit held in Islamabad in 2004, the Heads of State or Government declared poverty alleviation as the “overarching” goal of SAARC. Subsequently, the Thirteenth SAARC Summit held in Dhaka in 2005 declared the decade of 2006-15 as the Decade of Poverty Alleviation.

According to the World Bank estimates, SAARC is home to a population of 1.65 billion of which 32 percent fall below the international poverty line at US$ 1.25 per capita per day. The average per capita Gross National Income (GNI) of SAARC countries stood at US $ 1358.00 in 2012. The GNI of South Asia has been growing by 6.53 percent annually during the last decade.