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South Asian Poverty
Alleviation Network
The Heads of State or Government of
the SAARC region during the 13th summit declared 2006-2015 as the
SAARC Decade of Poverty Alleviation. During the decade, endeavours -
both at the national and regional level - will continue to be made
with a sense of commitment and urgency to free South Asia from
poverty. The online Poverty Alleviation Network will focus on these
priorities while working out the elements for regional initiatives
in three selected countries. The portal will highlight
implementation of concrete regional programmes and projects as well
as forging partnerships among all stakeholders.
Underlining the need for an exclusive
online forum for focused and comprehensive examination of poverty
related issues, the portal will serve as a joint platform for all
the stakeholders dealing with Poverty Alleviation at the national
level.
Regional Portal for
Good Governance
Governments recognized the need to
take the process of regional economic integration further by
expanding the scope of South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) to
include trade in services, enhanced investment and harmonized
standards. The portal will serve as a platform for sharing of
information, best practices and lessons learnt on:
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Legal and administrative assistance
in customs matters
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Regional trade arbitration
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Regional taxation and mutual legal
and administrative assistance in tax matters
The portal will emphasize the need for
parallel ‘online’ initiatives for dismantling of non-tariff and para-tariff
barriers. In this context, the portal will support speedy conclusion
of agreements on mutual recognition of standards, testing and
measurements with a view to facilitating intra-regional trade. The
portal will enhance potential of trade in services which have
expanded rapidly at the informal level.
ICT for Development Resource Centre
The regional development gateway will
encourage, where appropriate, trade-creating investment in the three
countries and cater to the need for closer regional cooperation in
the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT),
including Tele-communications. It will also support a network on
energy sector to promote development of energy resources, including
hydropower; and energy trade in the region; to develop renewable and
alternative energy resources; and promote energy efficiency and
conservation in the region. It will constitute a South Asian Energy
Dialogue process, involving officials, experts, academics,
environmentalists and NGOs, to recommend measures to tap potentials
of cooperation in energy sector to provide inputs to national and
local initiatives on energy.
Civil Society
Network for Poverty Reduction Initiatives
South Asia's social challenges needs a platform for civil
society organizations committed to take initiatives at national as
well as regional levels for achieving the strategic objectives of
poverty reduction. A joint regional effort will be crucial to enable
the regional CSOs to meet the hopes and aspirations of the common
people of South Asia and visibly improve the quality of their lives.
Many future national implementation efforts will be complemented by
regional programmes and projects in areas requiring collective
regional response.
Network for Women
and Children
In the next decade and beyond the countries need to address the
formidable challenges faced by women and children, especially the
girl child. Coordinated and sustained efforts are needed on the part
of the Member States not only to free them from all types of
deprivation but also to make them full partners and beneficiaries of
regional progress and development. With a strong resolve to continue
to work together to address the problem posed by trafficking in
women and children in the three countries, the regional gateway will
exchange information and show-case illustrative initiatives from the
region relating to trafficking in women and children. Civil society
organizations and the media have an important role to play in
raising awareness of the degrading and inhuman treatment faced by
the victims of trafficking. The gateway will help law enforcement
agencies in the countries to coordinate and strengthen their efforts
to address this problem effectively.
Regional Portal for
Primary Education
Achievements of the national efforts during recent years in the area
of primary education through sustained efforts and adoption of
country specific innovative approaches are noteworthy. The regional
development gateway recognizes that regional initiatives in this
particular area might focus on sharing of experiences and best
practices. It also calls for optimal utilization of resources and
identification of strategic interventions in the area of training,
management and performance evaluation of these programmes so as to
ensure sustainability, coverage and quality of education imparted
and services provided.
Regional Network
for Higher Education and Scientific Research
To meet the challenges of the
twenty-first century countries must make important strides in the
areas of science, technology and higher education. The regional
development gateway will give priority attention to encourage
regional cooperation in these areas to derive benefits from the
synergy of collective, well-planned and focused initiatives
undertaken by the three countries. They directed that a SAARC Plan
of Action for Science, ICT and Technology be elaborated for
consideration during a Meeting of SAARC Science, ICT and Technology
Ministers to be convened as soon as possible.
A specific regional portal with links
to all major universities and higher education institutions in the
three countries will facilitate students’ admission, research and
development activities in the region. The institutions will be
motivated join the network and support a joint students-exchange and
admission programme for the sub-region.
Regional Disaster
Management and Emergency Response Portal
In view of the recent Tsunami events
the regional gateway recognizes the need to collaborate on disaster
preparedness at the regional level for addressing health
emergencies, including prevention and control of pandemics like
avian influenza, as these pose a major global threat with impact on
health, trade and tourism involving human mobility. The gateway will
develop a regional ‘online response’ strategy for such emergencies
as soon as possible; and identify and strengthen collaboration
within and beyond the region and establish links with other regional
organizations. It will also serve as a regional Health Surveillance
Centre and a Rapid Deployment Health Response System, to deal with
emerging and re-emerging diseases.
In view of the extensive loss of life
and colossal damage to property as a result of earthquake and
tsunami and other natural disasters in South Asia, SARDEG will put
in place a permanent online regional response mechanism dedicated to
disaster preparedness, emergency relief and rehabilitation to ensure
immediate response. The portal will be a virtual center to
coordinate members’ activities in disaster management as early
warning, exchange of information, training and sharing of
experiences and best practices in emergency relief efforts.
Network on Regional
HIV/AIDS Initiatives
Based on a regional strategy for
collective response to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, regional
response in this regard will be further enhanced through an online
resource center to eliminate this dreadful disease from South Asia.
The portal will also enhance regional cooperation to support a
stakeholders’ dialogue for the prevention and treatment of Dengue,
Malaria and other infectious or communicable diseases constituting
major public health concerns will also.
SARDEG will also launch a regional
e-Health initiative with regard to basic healthcare services and
sanitation in the rural areas and encouraged exchange of experience
and best practices within the region. It will work for cooperation
in medical expertise and pharmaceuticals, as well as traditional
medicine, and availing affordable pharmaceuticals produced in the
region, harmonization of standards and certification procedures and
production of affordable medicines. One basic service to be provided
will be booking hospital seats and appointments with doctors at
various prominent hospitals (mainly in India) by patients through an
online application. Major hospitals will be members of this facility
and patients from the region will save a lot of waiting-time before
they arrive at a hospital.
Network on South
Asia's Environmental Challenges and Nature Preservation
A dedicated portal will be created for
furthering environmental cooperation among the countries for a
coordinating role in the field of forestry for exchange of
information, expertise, training and networking of regional projects
with emphasis on social forestry. It will a clearing house for
online resources on regional programmes and projects for early
warning, preparedness and management of tsunami and other natural
disasters.
Portal on
Anti-Terrorism and Conflict Resolution
Terrorism violates the fundamental
values of the SAARC and the United Nations, and constitutes one of
the most critical threats to international peace and security. In
view of the continuing and recent terrorist attacks in the region
and their impact on security, economic stability and social
development, there is strong need to create a joint platform for
preventing and combating terrorism. The portal proposed for this
purpose under the SARDEG would strengthen the national and regional
cooperation in such important areas as exchange of information,
coordination and cooperation among their relevant agencies. Further,
the portal will also enhance the enforcement agencies’ coordination
dealing with the provisions of the Regional Convention on Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances through an appropriate regional
mechanism on the Internet.
Due to their specific vulnerabilities,
small states like Nepal and Bangladesh require special measures for
support from all concerned for safeguarding their sovereignty,
independence and territorial integrity. In this context, the online
portal will stress protection of small states through dissemination
of information on UN Charter, rule of law and the strict adherence
to universally accepted principles and norms related to sovereign
rights and territorial integrity of all States, irrespective of
their size.
Network on
People-to-people contact and cultural cooperation
Spirits of regional cooperation and
developmental initiatives need to be sustained by efforts to promote
people-to-people contact and by a vibrant civil society throughout
South Asia actively engaged in forging links across national
boundaries. Stakeholders at all levels shall promote
people-to-people contact by facilitating online exchange among SAARC
countries, promotion of youth discussion lists on culture and
sports, promotion of intra-SAARC tourism, establishment of linkages
among professional bodies. The portal will focus on 2006 as "South
Asia Tourism Year" declared by SAARC and will encourage initiatives
by private sector entities in promoting understanding and harmony in
the region.
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