Saarc’s highest priority to fighting climate change

The New Nation , Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Correspondent :
On the conclusion of the Sixteenth Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Thimphu, Bhutan, the Leaders of SAARC issued a joint declaration on April 29 evening. The declaration titled Thimphu Silver Jubilee Declaration "Towards a Green and Happy South Asia" was approved by the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mr. Hamid Karzai; the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina; the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Mr. Lyonchhen Jigmi Yoeser Thinley; the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh; the President of the Republic of Maldives, Mr. Mohamed Nasheed; the Prime Minister of Nepal, Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal; the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mr. Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani; and the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Leaders expressed satisfaction that SAARC had achieved a number of important milestones with the completion of twenty five years of its establishment. The Leaders underscored the relevance and importance of the Association in providing a platform for regional cooperation to accomplish the Charter objectives.

In this Silver Jubilee Year of SAARC, the Leaders emphasized the need to develop a 'Vision Statement'. They agreed to form a 'South Asia Forum' for the generation of debate, discussion and the exchange of ideas on South Asia and its future development. The Forum will consist of eminent personalities of diverse background including from all SAARC Member States. The Forum would provide inputs, based on a comprehensive understanding, for charting out the future course of SAARC in the medium and long run and recommend, if required, the necessary improvements required in the existing mechanisms. Such a forum could function on public-private partnership lines, and allow for multiple inputs beyond governments into the consideration of the future of SAARC.

In order to commemorate the 25th anniversary, the Leaders laid emphasis on effective communications and public diplomacy. They drew attention in this regard to the need to reach out to different sections of the South Asian community, particularly its students and youth, private media, private sector, think tanks, civil society, and institutions of economic development.

The Leaders agreed that the scope and substance of cooperation had expanded to diverse fields, providing a firm basis for genuine partnership. However, a number of these had not translated into meaningful and tangible benefits to the people. They, therefore, highlighted the need for more efficient, focused, time-bound and people-centric activities and called for appropriate reflection of all the SAARC decisions into the national policies and programmes of Member States. They resolved that the Silver Jubilee Year should be commemorated by making SAARC truly action oriented by fulfilling commitments, implementing declarations and decisions and operationalizing instruments and living up to the hopes and aspirations of one-fifth of humanity.

The Leaders, while appreciating that all the Member States had evolved into multi-party democracies, underlined the challenges faced by them in ensuring effective, efficient, transparent and accountable governments. In this regard, they emphasized the need for regional cooperation to strengthen good governance through sharing of experiences, best-practices and establishing institutional linkages. They noted the proposal by Bangladesh to convene an Inter-governmental Meeting in Dhaka on the idea of a SAARC Charter of Democracy on which Bangladesh offered to circulate a Concept Paper. The Leaders welcomed Climate Change as the theme for the Summit and reaffirmed their commitment to address this challenge. In this context, they adopted the Thimphu Statement on Climate Change and directed that the recommendations contained therein be implemented in earnest.

The Leaders noted that while climate change impacted every country, the SAARC Member States as developing countries were shouldering a major burden, in spite of having contributed least to the problem. They emphasized that global negotiations on climate change should be guided by the principles of equity, and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities as enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and should be conducted in an open, transparent and inclusive manner.

The Leaders, underscored the need to initiate the process to formulate a common SAARC position for COP16 and thereafter, including on issues such as separate financing for adaptation and mitigation as well as technology transfer. In this regard, they welcomed the offer of Bhutan to host an Inter-governmental Expert Group meeting. The Leaders welcomed the Government of Nepal's initiative to organize a Ministerial Meeting of Mountainous Countries in Kathmandu later this year.

In pursuance of the recommendation contained in the SAARC Ministerial Statement on Environment on conservation of aquatic ecosystem, trans-boundary bio-diversity zones, automated network of weather stations and regular and systematic sharing of scientific data, the Leaders called for focus on water management and conservation and development of cooperative projects at regional level in terms of exchange of best practices and knowledge, capacity building and transfer of eco-friendly technology.

The Leaders, deeply concerned by the extent of environmental degradation in the region, reiterated the importance of sustainably managing environment and development through adoption of eco-friendly approaches and technologies and that South Asia should become a world leader in low-carbon technology and renewable energies. They welcomed the signing of the SAARC Convention on Cooperation on Environment and called for its early ratification and implementation. The Leaders, concerned by the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, called for effective regional programmes in early warning, preparedness and management including response and rehabilitation while remaining within their respective national laws and procedures. They called for further negotiations and early finalization of the SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters.

The Leaders noted with satisfaction the ongoing initiatives in promoting gender equality and women's empowerment through regional cooperation. In this regard, the Leaders welcomed the announcement by the Government of Maldives to nominate a Woman Secretary General as the Tenth Secretary General of SAARC.

Acknowledging the enormity of the challenges related to food insecurity and poverty, the Leaders directed the SAARC Agriculture Ministers to vigorously pursue regional cooperation in agriculture covering all sub-sectors to enhance overall agricultural productivity. They called for regional efforts on increased sharing of best practices, technologies, techniques, and materials. Given the importance of quality seeds in enhancing productivity, they further directed early consideration of the concept of a regional seed bank, regional testing and certification of seeds, and a framework for transfer of plant genetic material and seeds. They agreed that South Asian agriculture must benefit from collaborative efforts from within and among SAARC countries by undertaking specific initiatives and projects.

The Leaders underscored the need for promotion of tourism to enhance greater people-to-people contacts in the region and called for the creation of tourism-friendly environment. They welcomed the offer of the Government of Nepal to host the Third SAARC Ministerial Meeting on Tourism in Kathmandu in 2011 which coincides with the Nepal Tourism Year 2011.

The Leaders recognized the need to enhance cooperation in the energy sector to facilitate energy trade, development of efficient conventional and renewable energy sources including hydropower. They emphasized the need to undertake studies to develop regional energy projects, promote regional power trade, efficiency, conservation and development of labeling and standardization of appliances, and sharing of knowledge and technologies.

The Leaders agreed that an Action Plan on Energy conservation would be prepared by the SAARC Energy Centre (SEC), Islamabad with inputs from the Member States and submit to the inter-governmental mechanism for consideration. They called for the creation of a web portal on Energy Conservation for exchange of information and sharing of best practices among SAARC Member States.

The Leaders noted the proposal from India for preparing a Roadmap for developing a SAARC Market for Electricity (SAME) on a regional basis, as SAARC is considering electricity trading, supported by enabling markets in the Member States.

 
SOURCE : http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2010/05/03/news0119.htm
 


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