Crisis of confidence hits SAARC

The collective journey of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), established with the commitment by the seven countries to present themselves in one forum on common international agenda by alleviating the widespread poverty in South Asian region through regional cooperation and understanding, has completed 22 years amid both hopes and pessimism.

However, questions are raised if this two-decade long journey of SAARC has fulfilled the aspirations of the people of the region, and that no reply for it has been found yet.

Each year commitments are made in dozens of new areas and proposals, but their implementation is not moved ahead concretely and crisis of confidence between the member states is seen as the obstruction to SAARC so far.

This region has common problems such as poverty, illiteracy and backwardness and the aspirations of the people are centered on resolving these problems and the organization is moving ahead as per the times in the context that it has been backward in technology and in economic point of view.

The organization established on December 8, 1985 has completed its 14 summit conferences and in a short time it will be held in the Maldives capital Male, for which the date has been fixed to hold the 15 th summit.

Showing concern as to how far works could be done as per the objectives of the SAARC as we near the 15 th summit and what subjects should get priority in the coming decades on that basis will help it move ahead actively.

Indeed, the establishment of SAARC was to make collective efforts for the resolution of the common problems of the region through cooperation and understanding and to identify in the world arena as a peaceful, regional and non-political common organisation.

Although there is a decades long conflict between India and Pakistan because of Jammu and Kashmir as a cause of disagreement for South Asia, to see goodwill among all the member states during the summit is somewhat positive.

With the start of the 1980s and development of regional organizations worldwide and in line with the development of regional unity in Asian region, the then Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahaman had put forth the SAARC concept and it was founded with the participation of the seven nations of South Asia.

India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal are the SAARC founding members. It has now eight members with the formal entry of Afghanistan from the 14 th summit.

The organization criticized of being a forum of the poor and not being effective has shown some activity after two decades and hopes are raised in the South Asian people.

Asian economic powers China and Japan and countries like USA to remain as observer and to show concern on SAARC activity and development has added some hopes.

There have been some hopes in development of the region as some concrete programmes have been put forward for regional development in the 14 th summit instead of the abstract commitments enmeshed in the earlier wordy documents.

A free commission has been proposed on poverty alleviation in the regional level in the 14 summit declaration as per the effort to alleviate poverty in the region. Likewise, another commitment is to build transport by making air or land route at least for reaching another capital from one member state of the SAARC.

Likewise, other commitment is to work jointly by studying the feasibility of the energy including solar, bio, hydro to work with solidarity for the use of energy available here, as petroleum availability is low in the South Asian region.

Other commitments including establishment of the South Asian common university in the South Asian region, common body to control criminal activities, and identification in the world as a collective identity of the region are the most effective and meaningful.

Although it was given birth by the leaders of this region with a sole spirit of making SAARC a powerful forum for making the fortune of the south Asian people, it has not been moved ahead accordingly, but has been always thinking on the regional problems.

There is a need for heading towards addressing the problems by the SAARC in view of the present day reality that South Asia has been taken as the origin of deprivation, poverty and backwardness.

Source: The Rising Napel

SAARC Foreign Ministers meeting begins in New Delhi

To discuss ways to jointly fight the terrorism which is posing common threat to South Asia, Foreign Ministers of South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries began parleys here Friday.

The meeting will also seek to push the proposed regional Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement besides discussing operationalization of SAARC Development Fund and stepping up connectivity among the eight member countries.

Liberalization of visa regime, setting up of SAARC University and tele-medicine network will also figure in the Council of Ministers meeting.

It will also consider application of Australia and Mauritius for association with SAARC as Observers, joining the US, EU, South Korea, Japan, China and Iran in that category.

Setting the stage for the meeting, Foreign Secretaries of the eight-member grouping held deliberations over the last two days on evolving ways to tackle terrorism jointly which is posing problems to all SAARC nations.

The meeting discussed ways to implement various conventions on combating terrorism, Foreign Secretary, Shivshankar Menon, told reporters.

The Foreign Secretaries' meeting decided to recommend
operationalization of the SAARC Development Fund immediately with the money available, Menon said.

Inter-governmental experts will look into other aspects elated to the fund that is intended to be a corpus to help member countries in the hour of need.

SAARC comprises India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan.

Source: IRNA

Seedings of 2011 Asian Cup qualifying

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Thursday announced the seeds for qualifying for the 2011 Asian Cup, based on results from the 2007 tournament.

1.Iraq 2.Saudi Arabia 3.South Korea 4.Japan 5.Australia 6.Iran 7.Uzbekistan 8.Vietnam 9.China 10.Thailand 11.Indonesia 12.UAE 13.Bahrain 14.Oman 15.Malaysia 16.Jordan 17.Syria 18.Hong Kong 19.Yemen 20.Kuwait 21.Singapore 22.India 23.Lebanon 24.North Korea 25.Myanmar 26.Maldives 27.Turkmenistan.

In round one, the eight teams ranked 20-27 will be paired into two groups of four with the top two from each group progressing to round two.

The second round will see those four teams joining the 16 teams ranked 4-19, who will be divided into five groups of four.

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the tournament along with Iraq. Saudi Arabia and South Korea, who automatically go through after finishing as the top three teams at the 2007 Asian Cup.

AFC Challenge Cup competitions in 2008 and 2010.
The first round draw takes place on Monday, December 17.

Source: AFP

DHIRAAGU FLOATING AWARD 2007

Floating Maldives (the Exclusive Floating Industry Magazine of Maldives) has affiliated with the biggest telecom company of Maldives (Dhiraagu) in hosting the 2nd Annual Floating Awards. This time the title was changed to DHIRAAGU FLOATING AWARDS 2007 as DHIRAAGU being the main sponsor of the event.

Source: MTPB

Maldives launches its first national campaign on drug prevention

A nationwide campaign on drug prevention and promoting recovery among addicts entitled “Wake Up” is being launched today by the National Narcotics Bureau, the non-governmental organization Journey and UNICEF.

Official estimates put heroin addicts in Maldives to at least 3,000, or one per cent of the population. In the capital city, Male, where 77 per cent of the country’s addicts live, it is believed that some 10 per cent of youth are using drugs.

The “Wake Up” campaign, which was started by a group of Maldivian youth, emphasizes the importance of community support and acceptance for addicts to help break the stigma and promote recovery. The public - particularly parents and teachers - are encouraged to speak openly about the drugs and the consequences of drug abuse. “Wake Up” messages will be distributed today through billboards, posters, brochures, TV and radio with the help of partners such as Dhiraagu and TV Maldives - around Male’ and the atolls. In addition, a special campaign website www.wakeup.mv has been created to help children, youth and parents learn more about the drug issue and where to go for help.

“Drug addiction can happen to anyone, regardless of their age, gender, economic or social status,” said UNICEF Representative Ken Maskall. “Many people don’t realize that addiction is really a chronic, progressive condition that requires professional treatment, help and support. For a small country like the Maldives, if one member suffers, we all end up suffering – especially children. It is in the interest of each and every one of us to take action now and to say no to drugs.”

Heroin, one of the most highly addictive and destructive drugs in the world is the most frequently abused drug in the Maldives, and there are increasing reports of injection drug use. Although the Maldives has kept its HIV infection to a low rate, the increase in injection drug use makes the Maldives vulnerable to the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C.

“Based on what we have found from the past one year and a half, I can very clearly say that more than 10 per cent of the youth population is using drugs,” said Rado, Founder of Journey, an NGO run entirely by recovering addicts to provide aftercare, support and peer counseling services for other recovering addicts.

“Throughout the world, the average recovery rate is about five per cent. But here in the Maldives, with all the tremendous efforts by the Government and the civil societies, we haven’t come anywhere close to that,” continued Rado. “We are living in a small society like this, we can go out and reach anywhere in this capital within five minutes, but still we are not able to reach those active addicts who need help.”

Together with the "Wake Up" campaign, a one-stop community centre for drug prevention, recovery and aftercare is also being launched today. The NNCB Community Service Centre in Male’ will provide basic counseling, peer support and rehabilitation services for addicts as part of the community rehabilitation programmes. Specialists, counselors, social workers and volunteers of the centre will organize aftercare programmes such as individual counseling, family/group therapy, as well as opportunities for vocational training to help addicts, especially the young people, to recover from drug dependency.

“It is time we all woke up as the future of our beautiful nation depends on it,” said Minister of Gender and Family, Aishath Mohamed Didi. “Become educated and aware of the harmful effects of drugs and the benefits of a drug free lifestyle.”

About UNICEF:
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

For further information, detailed programme and interviews please contact:
Ali Shareef (NNCB) Tel: 7751162 Email: prevention@nncb.gov.mv
Mohamed Rashid (Rado) (Journey) Tel: 7754609 Email: journeyngo@gmail.com
Sherine Guirguis (UNICEF) Tel: 2906977 Email: sguirguis@unicef.org
Mohamed Naeem (UNICEF) Tel: 7783721 Email: mnaeem@unicef.org

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