Kathmandu.- 23 November,  The 41st session of the Standing Committee of the SAARC began here today, in the lead up to the 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit that Nepal is hosting on 26-27 November.KS-KTM-41st-Session-of-the-

Delegations led by Foreign Secretary of all the eight member states of SAARC are taking part in the meeting that is taking place at Hotel Soaltee since this morning.

The two-day meeting will ratify the agenda endorsed by the Programming Committee of the Joint-Secretary-level that met on Saturday. It will also discuss the state of implementation of the earlier decisions taken by the Standing Committee.

In the meeting, SAARC General Secretary Arjun Bahadur Thapa will present analytical views about SAARC progress so far and its future course of action. Besides, the meeting is expected to review significant issues for mutual assistance like poverty alleviation, information technology and energy promotion.

SAARC countries’ relations with the nine observer countries and their presence in the SAARC forum are also the agenda of discussion in the meeting, according to Acting Secretary (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Shankardas Bairagi.

The meeting will focus on how to make the SAARC commitments and programmes result-oriented and take their outcomes to the people, Acting Secretary Bairagi said.

Maximum efforts will be made to make the slogan for the 18th SAARC Summit ‘Deeper Integration for Peace and Prosperity’ meaningful. The meeting will dwell upon the issues of railway, road and energy assistance which have been prepared for singing in the Standing Committee meeting. The meeting will review the implementation of past declarations amd focus on making the presence of SAARC more effective and dynamic.

 Acting Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi is leading the Nepali delegation while the delegation of Afghanistan is led by Deputy Director for Regional Cooperation Seddiq Rasuli, the Bangladesi delegation by Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque and of Bhutan by Foreign Secretary Yeshey Dorji.

 Likewise, the Indian delegation will be led by Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and of the Maldives by Foreign Secretary Ali Naseer Mohamed.

The Pakistani delegation is led by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and of Sri Lanka by Secretary at the Ministry of External Affairs Ms Kshenuka Senewiratne.

 The meeting is receiving suggestions from the SAARC member countries as the host country Nepal had sent the preliminary draft of the declaration to the member countries.

The meeting is scheduled to include the issues to be presented in the summit. The subjects not finalized by the standing committee meeting would be forwarded to the SAARC Council of Ministers and the Kathmandu Declaration would be finalized on the basis of endorsement made by SAARC Council of Ministers.

The Heads of the Government or State would prepare their views towards the SAARC on the basis of the declaration, it is learnt.

 The meeting of the Programming Committee on Saturday discussed on closing down some regional centres and merging some others centres of SAARC. A total of 11 centres are presently active under the SAARC.

 The Committee also discussed about the annual calendar of SAARC activities of 2015 and implementation situation of recommendations made by previous meetings.

This is the third time Nepal is hosting the SAARC Summit. Nepal is assuming chairmanship of SAARC summit. The 18th SAARC Summit is going to be held under the slogan “Deeper Integration for Peace and Prosperity.” RSS
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 The PM Koirala commended the Secretary-General for convening the Climate Summit and added that the momentum generated at the summit should  pave  the way next year for a binding agreement on climate change with long-term and comprehensive global commitments for climate solutions based on  the principles of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities, equity, and respective capabilities’.

 He underlined that it is an irony that the world’s most vulnerable countries happen to be the worst victims of climate change for no fault of theirs and called for special provisions for climate financing, additional to regular ODA, for addressing the mitigation and adaptation needs of the least developed countries and small island developing states.

Calling for attention to the structural constraints, capacity gaps and pervasive and complex development challenges that LDCs face, the Prime Minister underlined the urgency for addressing the special needs of the LDCs and to support them with enhanced provision of resources for inclusive development.

The Prime Minister called for the immediate implementation of duty free and quota free market access for LDCs’ products to enable them reap benefits from the global trading system. He called upon the international community particularly donors to fulfill all the commitments made in favour of LDCs and emphasized on the timely, full and effective implementation of Istanbul Programme of Action for the LDCs.  The Prime Minister Koirala expressed hope that Vienna Conference in November this year will be successful to develop an ambitious and result-oriented instrument to succeed the Almaty Programme of Action for LLDCs.

Informing the General Assembly about the aim of Nepal to graduate from LDC status by 2022,  he added that an enhanced level of international support to build our productive capacity, improvement in supply side capacity and minimizing shocks and vulnerabilities and, above all, bringing  about structural transformation will be critical to meet this target.

The Prime Minister stressed that the post-2015 development agenda only becomes truly transformative when the pressing needs and priorities of the most vulnerable and marginalized countries and societies are faithfully accommodated into the broader global agenda and are provided with sufficient resources to achieve them. He added that a holistic development process does not leave an unfinished agenda behind, so the remaining task of the MDGs should be fully incorporated in the post-2015 agenda.

Koirala said Nepal unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and called for an early conclusion of a comprehensive convention on international terrorism; and the effective implementation of the provisions of the UN global counter-terrorism measures.

The Prime Minister Koirala highlighted that the unwavering faith and long struggle for a democratic system of governance has given Nepal strength for mainstreaming the armed Maoist rebels into a peaceful democratic process and lead a successful transition from autocratic monarchy to democratic republican order, thereby setting unique model. He added that political parties in Nepal including the Maoists are now working together to have a democratic constitution promulgated through the elected Constituent Assembly.  The Prime Minister expressed the commitment of the present government to take the parties both within and outside the Assembly on board within the framework of constitutionalism, political pluralism and the rule of law to put the country on the path of peace, stability, development and democratic system of governance.  He said Nepal firmly believes in democracy’s indispensability for peace, progress, stability, and prosperity adding that peace, democracy and sustainable development are inextricably linked and mutually reinforcing. He expressed confidence that Peace, stability, and democracy in Nepal would pave way for reaping the benefits from economic dynamism in the neighbourhood and at the same time act as a stabilizing force for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world at large.

The Prime Minister Koirala quoted Late BP Koirala from his statement of the 15th UNGA in 1960, “the real solutions of the world problems, including the problem of world peace and prosperity, lies in the direction of strengthening and extending the authority of the United Nations. This authority will be strengthened and fortified if the decisions of the United Nations are respected faithfully and loyally by all powers, big and small” and stated that the need today is to be true to the letter and spirit of every decision we make for the good of humanity.

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