People's Saarc confce begins in Kathmandu March 23

The People's Saarc Conference will begin on March 23 in Kathmandu with an objective of developing interaction among the citizens of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries.

The 3-day conference is going to be held ahead of the 14th Saarc Summit in New Delhi on April 3-4.

According to the sources, representatives of civil society, peasants, workers, marginalised group, deprived communities and lawmakers from all eight member countries -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka -- will participate in the conference in Kathmandu.

According to secretariat of People's Saarc, the Kathmandu declaration will be issued on the third and concluding day of the conference after a mass meeting.

With the Kathmandu declaration, People's Saarc hopes to draw attention of the governments of Saarc countries during the 14th summit in New Delhi on issues such as democracy, sustainable peace, human rights, natural resource management and issues of the deprived communities and the indigenous people.

Source: The Daily Star