14^TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIGNING OF THE SAARC CHARTER

On 8^th December 1985, the Heads of State and Government of South Asia signed the Charter of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the Dhaka Declaration to accelerate the process of economic and social development in South Asia through optimum utilization of human and material resources in the seven countries.  The leaders were conscious that peace and security were an essential prerequisite for the realization of these objectives.

The Fourteenth Anniversary of the Signing of the Charter establishing the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was marked at the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu on December 8, 1999.

The Rt. Hon. Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Prime Minister of Nepal was the Chief Guest.  On the occasion, he said: "SAARC Charter embodies the lofty goals of peace, stability, amity and progress in South Asia and provides a framework of cooperation for their realisation. We consider SAARC Charter as a vital instrument for the promotion of regional identity and solidarity and remain fully committed to this object." The Prime Minister noted that the South Asian region contains the largest number of poor in the world. While some efforts have been made towards poverty alleviation, success in this field was still a long way off. He added that the time had come to seriously think of how the region could promote a genuine partnership and mobilise resources, both national as well as regional, in liberating South Asia from the vicious circle of poverty. The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction that cooperation in substantive areas has received priority under SAARC in the recent years and this process should be carried forward taking into account the need for ensuring equitable benefits to all member states.

The Secretary-General Nihal Rodrigo read out a message received from the current Chair of the Association, the President of Sri Lanka, Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.  In her message, she briefly reviewed the achievements and shortcomings of the Association in the context of the acceleration of profound social, economic and technical changes that have taken place regionally as well as internationally in the last fourteen years.  She looked forward to the Eleventh Summit in Kathmandu to consolidate the achievements of preceding Summits and to work out practical strategies for the future development of the region.  “What progress we have managed to achieve should not lead to complacency; our shortcomings should not encourage pessimism and cynicism”, she said in her message.

The first copy of a book published by the Secretariat entitled, “The SAARC Mosaic : An Introduction to the Nations of South Asia” was presented to the Prime Minister.

The Chief Justice of Nepal, members of the Nepali Cabinet, members of Parliament, Heads of Diplomatic Missions, the United Nations Agencies and other Missions as well as a representative gathering of distinguished members of Nepali society were present on the occasion.

HEADS OF NATIONAL TV/RADIO ORGANISATIONS MEET TO REVIEW SAVE PROGRAMMES

The first ever annual meeting of the Heads of National TV/Radio organisations of SAARC Countries, was held in New Delhi on 14 October 1999.  The initiative which had emanated from the SAARC Plan of Action on Information and Media adopted by the SAARC Information Ministers in 1998, aims at reviewing the monthly SAARC Audio-Visual Exchange (SAVE) programmes being telecast/broadcast in the member countries. 

The meeting was inaugurated Y.N. Chaturvedi, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, who emphasized  the need  to increase the profile of SAVE broadcasts for achieving an impact on a diverse audience, through  more  innovative and entertaining programmes.

During the one-day meeting, which was chaired by the leader of the Indian delegation, Harish Avasthi,  Director-General of Prasar Bharati, participants made presentations on the current status of Radio/TV broadcasting/telecasting in their respective countries. They highlighted the general resource constraints,  increasing competition from satellite channels and the constant endeavour to maintain a balance between the demands of public service broadcasting and the commercial compulsions of having entertainment programmes.

The meeting made a number of recommendations, which included, inter-alia, calling on the SAVE Committee to identify specific thematic concerns in the region, such as environment, social development, empowerment of women; health and education etc.  for producing ‘shorts’/’spots’ for broadcast in the member countries.  The SAVE Committee was also asked to compile a Directory of Training Institutes and Resource Persons, and the setting up of  a mechanism for daily exchange of Radio and TV news among SAARC countries.   It was also felt that member states involved in SAVE co-production projects should hold separate meetings to finalise the production processes, in addition to the regular SAVE meetings.   The Heads of  National TV/Radio Organisations also proposed that Member States consider holding a SAARC Music Festival which will be broadcast on Radio and TV as a means to promote people-to-people contact.

The SAVE Committee was established in 1987 with the aim to increase the awareness of SAARC among the peoples of the region as well as to disseminate information about Member States through regular TV/Radio programmes and by producing joint productions on thematic issues. Such programmes are telecast/broadcast through national channels of TV/Radio regularly on the 1^st and 15^th of every month, respectively. Although the Committee has been active in producing TV/Radio programmes since its inception, its main focus has tended to remain on cultural activities of Member States.

SAARC WORKSHOP ON FOLLOW UP ACTION ON FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN

A Workshop on Follow Up Action on Fourth World Conference on Women organised under the aegis of SAARC was held in New Delhi from 28-29 September under the chairmanship of Rina Ray, Director,  Ministry of Human Resource Development of India. Representatives from all Member States attended the workshop.

The delegations made country presentations on the follow-up action on the Beijing Conference and briefed the workshop on the progress made as per the National Plan of Action for the SAARC Decade of the Girl Child. The considerable progress made in all the SAARC countries was noted ------, marginal performance groups still persisted. To bridge the performance gaps, in addition to making more vigorous efforts, the meeting felt the need to redefine the goals for the girl child for the next millennium.

The recommendations that emerged from the workshop included: maintenance of gender-desegregated data on all indicators concerning survival and development of girls and women; the non-recruitment of children as combatants during armed conflicts; and relief and rehabilitation measures that take into account the special needs of women and children especially in households headed by women during armed conflicts.

Recalling Paragraph 45 of the Colombo Declaration of Tenth SAARC Summit, the following recommendations were made for incorporation in the proposed draft Social Charter :

-   Expansion of the area of “protection of children” to include other three areas of the rights of the child as enunciated in CRC i.e. survival, development and participation at appropriate levels on all issues impacting on them.
-   Inclusion of the interests of the girl child as a component in the policies and programmes concerning children.
-   Mainstreaming women in the national development process.
-   Prevention of the trafficking of women and girls in the SAARC region and rehabilitation and reintegration of these women and girls into their families and communities.
-   The undertaking of measures to protect rights of women workers including women migrant workers.
-   Creation of a women-friendly and mother-friendly working environment.
-   Elimination of child labour.
-   The care and continued integration of elders in the society with special attention to the needs of women.
-   Utilisation of the media in a positive manner to create awareness of issues relating to women and girl child.
-   Dissemination of the goals of the SAARC Social Charter through various media fora.

COURSE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION

A 2-week Course on "Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction: Theory, Evidence, and Implications for South Asia" was jointly organised by the National Planning Commission of Nepal, the SAARC Secretariat and the World Bank Office in Kathmandu from September 21 to October 1.The course was inaugurated by Prithivi Raj Ligal, Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission of Nepal.

Over forty participants from SAARC member states attended the event. A message from the SAARC Secretary-General, Nihal Rodrigo was read out at the inaugural session. Mahmood Hasan, Director (Development Issues and Poverty Alleviation Division), SAARC Secretariat presented the keynote paper. Jorge Araujo, Economist from the World Bank Institute, Washington also attended the event. The Course dealt with various conceptual aspects of economic growth and their impact on poverty alleviation.

SAARC Film Festival in Sri Lanka 

Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga inaugurated the SAARC Film Festival in Colombo from September 17-24, 1999.  All SAARC member countries participated in the event, the first of its kind in the region.  In her inaugural address, the President stated that the objectives of SAARC should go beyond mere regional politics and create close ties among the group of seven nations. Describing cinema as an universal language common to all human beings, she added that cinema could help bring a sense of togetherness among the nations in the world and that the SAARC nations should use this medium to foster harmony and build a strong base for regional peace.

Three seminars were also held on different aspects of cinema including on film as cultural expression, film marketing and distribution and the future of the film industry.          

The Cinema in South Asia virtually parallels the one hundred-year history of World Cinema. The film industry was introduced to the sub-continent with production of silent movies around ninety years ago.The South Asian region remains the major film producing region in the world.

  GOVERNING BOARD OF THE SAARC TUBERCULOSIS CENTRE (STC)

Under the chairmanship of Ibrahim Shaheem, Director, Department of Public Health and Member of Governing Board from Maldives, the ninth meeting of the Governing Board of the SAARC Tuberculosis (STC) met in Kathmandu on 27-28 October 1999. The Governing Board meeting was followed by a meeting to Formulate Urban TB Control Programme on 29 October 1999.

                        The Board reviewed the progress since its eighth meeting and considered the administrative and financial matters pertaining to the Centre including budgets for the year 2000.  The Director, STC gave an overview of the status of the activities that included a five-day SAARC-CIDA Workshop for Formulation of Project Approval Document (PAD) for TB and HIV/AIDS control in the Region (Kathmandu, 1–5 March 1999) and a Seminar on Gender and Sociological Issues related to Tuberculosis (Kathmandu, 27-28 August 1999).         

                        The Board commended the efforts of the STC and requested it to further strengthen the dissemination of information to the Member Countries. The meeting noted that STC has established a Resource Centre (Library). Books, journals, material relating to training, research and other components of TB and HIV/AIDS control are being collected from different sources including World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (IUATLD) for the library. A com piled report on World TB Day was prepared by STC on the basis of information received from Member Countries.  The Board requested Member Countries to send their reports on activities to be undertaken on world TB day 2000, based on which a special issue of the Newsletter would be published by STC.

The meeting proposed five programmes during the year 2000 and also recommended that the Tenth Meeting of the Governing Board may be held during the last quarter of 2000.  

GOVERNING BOARD OF SAIC MEETS IN DHAKA

The fourteenth meeting of the Governing Board of SAARC Agricultural Information Centre (SAIC) was held in Dhaka from 24-26 October 1999. The meeting was chaired by D. B. Weeratunga from Sri Lanka. The Secretariat was represented by Mahmood Hasan, Director.

The 3-day deliberations reviewed the activities of the Center and made recommendations regarding administrative changes. Several new projects were recommended to be taken up during the year 2000 including publication of quarantine and phytosanitary laws of SAARC countries; publication of annotated bibliography on seed quality, production and preservation in the SAARC region; updating of directory of agricultural periodicals of SAARC countries; compilation of national papers on development of horticulture in SAARC countries and establish database of agricultural economics and marketing systems in SAARC countries.

SAIC has started collating and compiling data on production of foodgrains in the SAARC region, which helps in estimating the availability of foodgrains in the SAARC member states. Published information on agriculture in South Asia is circulated among member states with a view to sharing information on agriculture related technology.

Governing Board of SAARC Meteorological Research Centre

The sixth meeting of the Governing Board of the SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC) took place in Dhaka on October 20-21 under the Chairmanship of Abdullahi Majeed, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs and Environment of the Government of the Republic of Maldives.

While highlighting the activities of the Centre during the past ten months, the Director of SMRC informed the meeting that the research programme “The Impact of Tropical Cyclones on the Coastal Regions of SAARC Countries and their Influence in the Region” had been published and circulated to member states as well as to renowned meteorological agencies and universities around the world. The CD-ROM version was also sent to Member States.

Other research programmes being undertaken by the Centre included: the Study of Climatological Inputs Supplied by Member States in Different Perspectives; Variability and Probabilistic Extremes of Monsoon Rainfall over the SAARC Region; and Sea Level Rise and Its Impact.

The Governing Board meeting also considered the institutional and programme cost budget for the year 2000.

SAARC AUDIO VISUAL EXCHANGE (SAVE) COMMITTEE FINALISES TV/RADIO PROGRAMME FOR 2000

The eighteenth meeting of the SAVE Committee was held in New Delhi on 15-16 October under the chairmanship of R.C. Mishra, Joint Secretary  in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India. In addition to reviewing the progress in the implementation of its earlier decisions, the Committee also considered the recommendations by the Heads of National TV/Radio Orgainsations to strengthen the SAVE Committee and make its programmes more effective in the future.

The Committee decided that for the SAARC Charter Day celebrations, Member States may produce their own programmes for telecasting/broadcasting on TV and Radio in their respective countries. The meeting while considering holding of  SAARC Film and TV Festivals, decided that each Member country would submit a telefilm of maximum 60 minutes duration, subtitled in English at the next meeting of the SAVE Committee, when the modalities for the holding of SAARC Telefilm Festivals will be finalised

The holding of the Fourth Radio Quiz which was originally scheduled to be held in November in Pakistan was deferred until December 1999, while Bangladesh was requested to announce the dates for the Fifth SAARC TV Quiz. It was also decided that the Sixth SAARC TV Quiz in the year 2000 will be held in Nepal.

During the course of the two-day meeting, the Committee also previewed the SAARC Documentary prepared by India as a curtain raiser for the 11^th SAARC Summit. The Committee finalised the documentary for telecast on the eve of the 11^th Summit.

Among other activities finalised by the Committee for the year 2000 were two workshops respectively on 'Welfare of Senior Citizens : The Role of Radio' to be held in Sri Lanka; and 'Cyber Journalism' to be held in Nepal. 

The SAVE TV/Radio programmes finalised by the Committee for telecast/broadcast during 1999/2000 are indicated in the

  TELEVISION PROGRAMMES

  RADIO PROGRAMMES

                                    SAARC NEWSLETTER TEAM:

Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed
 A.L.A. Azeez
 M. Yousaf

SAARC Newsletter is a monthly publication which reports on work, decisions and important meetings of the Association. Its contents may be reproduced without permission, although an acknowledgement would be appreciated. It is a free publication.

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