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Workshop on
"Livelihood
Opportunities for
Eradication of
Hunger Poverty from
South Asia"
SAARC
Human Resource
Development Centre
(SHRDC) has
organized a two day
workshop on
“Livelihood
Opportunities for
Eradication of
Hunger Poverty from
South Asia” on 12-13
December 2008. The
workshop was
inaugurated by H.E.
Mr. Suhail Safdar,
Secretary, Planning
& Development
Division, Government
of Pakistan.
In his inaugural
address he said
South Asia is one of
the world’s most
dynamic regions. It
with a huge market
is backed by 400
million middle-class
consumers, and has a
combined GDP of over
$600 billion. It
enjoys
macro-economic
stability,
moderately high
growth and a
demonstrable
progress in human
development. He said
“Poverty remains the
most daunting
challenge to our
collective wisdom.
Our pass efforts have
certainly helped
reduce it intensity.
Yet. We have to
traverse a long way
before this social
evil is completely
eliminated.”
Mr. Safdar said
“The SAARC Leaders
in their commitment
to reduce poverty
and vulnerability of
the people of the
region expressed
their firm
resolution
to combat the
problem of poverty
with a new sense of
urgency by
undertaking
effective and
sustained poverty
reduction programmes
and effective
implementation of
SAARC Development
Goals in the Member
States.”
Speaking at the
occasion Dr. Gamini
P. Batuwitage,
Additional
Secretary/Project
Director of
Gamidiriya
foundation, Ministry
of National Building
& Estate
Infrastructure
Development, Sri
Lanka said that
mobiliozing people
to partake in their
own development as
well as contributing
to planning and
monitoring of the
government
programmes had now
taken hold. He said
that “South Asian
countries have made
substantial progress
in poverty reduction
in the 1990s.
poverty in the SAARC
region is also
reflected in social
indicators. Almost
all human
development
indicators; health
and education ,
access to drinking
water, sanitation
and other
infrastructure
services such as
rural feeder roads,
electricity are
weak.”
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