First Regional Forum of Ministers of South Asian States: UNESCO SHS

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First Regional Forum of Ministers of South Asian States
In cooperation with the Government of Pakistan and with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNESCO’s MOST programme recently organized the First Regional Forum for Ministers of Social Development, in Bhurban, Pakistan.

Drawing inspiration from the experiences of comparable Forums in other regions of the world, representatives of UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Sector organized the two-day meeting on 26 and 27 May 2006. The Chairperson and Secretary-General of the ECOWAS Forum, Djibril Tangara, Mali Minister for Social Development, also attended the meeting (see SHS Views no. 13). Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka all took part in this first session of the Forum, and Bhutan, Fiji, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Thailand conveyed their interest and their intention of joining in the Forum at a later date. Participants were invited to discuss “Public Accountability Mechanisms in the Improvement of Social Sector Service Delivery in Asia”; a joint Declaration was adopted, setting an agenda of policies and agreeing that the space for dialogue should become permanent with the aim of improving discussions and exchange to foster the effectiveness of social policies.

In this Declaration – to which all Asian States may adhere – the Ministers present at the Forum agreed to promote policies that integrate all aspects of human development; to fight against poverty (through those policies); and to strive for greater solidarity through the strengthening of regional and interregional networks.

It was decided to have an annual, rotating Chair, entrusted to Pakistan for 2006-2007, with “Public accountability” as the focus for the year. The venue and date of the next Forum of Ministers of South Asian States was also settled; it will be held in India, in 2007.

The Chairperson of the Forum expressed his interest in making the initiative even more international in scope, by proposing that in cooperation with UNESCO, the first Interregional Forum of Ministers for Social Development should be organized in parallel.

See also:
- Speech by the Chairman
- Press clippings
- Toward the institutionalization of the Forum of Ministers on Social Development of Asia
Presented by Brig Muhammad Saleem, Retd, Focal Advisor, National Reconstruction Bureau Government of Pakistan

Focal Point of the Forum Secretariat :
Mr. Brigadier Muhammad Saleem Wains, Consultant, National Reconstruction Bureau, Pakistan

UNESCO Focal Point
Ms Marina Faetanini, Programme Specialist, UNESCO –New Dehli
E-mail: m.faetanini@unesco.org

News

2nd Regional Forum of Ministers of Social Development from South Asia 2008-02-20 8:00 am UNESCO
The Ministers of Social Development of South Asian countries, members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation – SAARC (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) will participate in the 2nd Regional Forum being organized within the framework of UNESCO’s programme for the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) on 5 and 6 March 2008, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi (India).



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