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Statement by the Rt. Honourable Girija
Prasad Koirala, Prime Minister
of Nepal at the 15th SAARC Summit |
| Saturday, August 02,
2008 |
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Your Excellency Mr.
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Your Excellencies the Heads of State and
Government of SAARC
Your
Excellencies the Representatives from the
Observer States
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is indeed a privilege for me to be here
in the historic city of
Colombo to participate in the 15th SAARC
Summit. On behalf of the
Nepalese delegation and on my own, I would
like to extend our sincere
gratitude to the Government and the people
of Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka for the warm reception
and cordial hospitality.
I would like to congratulate His Excellency
Mr. Mahinda Rajpaksa,
President of Sri Lanka on his election to
the Chair and assure him
that my delegation reposes full confidence
and trust on his leadership
and wisdom to steer the deliberations to a
successful conclusion. I
would also like to congratulate Sri Lanka on
the Diamond Jubilee
Celebration of its independence this year. I
believe that under the
able leadership of the new Chair, SAARC
would take further momentum in
fulfilling its noble objectives as enshrined
in the Charter, while
proving its relevance to the people by
making them capable to meet the
new challenges. I would also like to take
this opportunity to express
our sincere thanks to India, Immediate Past
Chair, for the active
leadership role it played during the last
year. I would also like to
record our appreciation for the committed
leadership of the Secretary
General and the dedication and hard work of
his team.
Mr.Chairman,
As we stand here to deliberate on the issues
of regional integration
and collective action within an Association
that covers a quarter of
the humanity of the world, we have to do so
against the formidable
challenges we are confronted with. They are
of long term and short
term in nature. While promoting an inclusive
growth, we should focus
ourselves on alleviating poverty, and
ensuring employment
opportunities to the youths throughout the
region. Now, this has to be
looked at against the background of an
unprecedented rise in the
prices of hydrocarbon fuels and food.
Whereas the price escalation of
fuels has created problems to sustain
economic growth needed to
promote welfare of the people of South Asia,
the rise in food price
has put questions on the very livelihood of
our people. Our
vulnerability to these shocks is more than
that of many other
countries. These daunting challenges demand
that poverty reduction
efforts in South Asia should have a
comprehensive approach and be
focused and result-oriented.
Since our region suffers from energy
deficit, we need increased
efficiency in our energy use and collective
efforts in conservation of
energy resources. We must immediately take
strategic steps for
regional energy connectivity and energy
trade for exploitation and use
of all energy resources available in the
region, while ensuring
universal access to commercial fuels. Nepal
is ready to utilize the
rich hydropower potentials of the country
for equitable benefits in
the
neighborhood. Moreover, we feel that we need
to develop a regional
strategy for management of waters for all
different kinds of uses in
the region in view of the increasing problem
of water scarcity faced
by the people in the region.
The adverse environmental changes induced by
climate change is calling
on sustainable and judicious use of
non-renewable resources and a
commitment to an increased use of renewable
sources of energy such as
hydropower. While there is a larger
responsibility of the economically
advanced countries to address the problems
of global climate change,
we must work with a united position to
ensure increased resource flow
and technology transfer to enhance our
capacity in Clean Development
Mechanism.
We welcome the preparation for establishment
of SMRC Development Fund,
which, I believe, will initiate the process
of funding regional and
sub-regional projects in the areas of
social, economic and
infrastructure development. From the pilot
stage of projects
implementation, we need to ensure proper
matching of funding
requirements in our enormous priority areas
with the actual
availability of funds for their effective
implementation. We should
make efforts to tap the growing strength of
the private sector of the
region in getting involved in projects under
pUblic-private
partnership scheme and the appropriate
involvement of the
international and regional financial
organizations in consonance with
the SAARC objectives and principles.
Implementation of SAFTA is our first major
step towards the arduous
course of deeper integration of economies.
We must always ask how much
benefit our people are getting from this
joint effort and how much
trade expansion it has fostered. I see more
role and responsibility of
all of us to make SAFT A an engine of growth
in South Asia. At the
same time, I request all member countries to
be responsive to
overcoming the hardships and capacity
constraints suffered by LDCs
like Nepal in a bid to translate into action
the provisions envisaged
under SAFTA Agreement. We are in favour of
including Trade in Services
under SAFT A and implementing all agreements
and measures designed to
facilitate intra-regional trade as early as
possible.
The emphasis on connectivity of the South
Asian peoples, places,
economies and infrastructure must be
reiterated with firmer resolve so
that we can implement prioritized projects
identified for achievement
of these goals. As a landlocked country, we
attach importance to
improvement of multi-modal transport and
transit infrastructure of the
region, and proper facilitation of transport
and transit in order to
lower the cost of doing business and
enhancing efficiency and
effectiveness of our trade.
Growing disparity between the haves and
have-nots is putting enormous
stress on social harmony, peace and security
in several parts of South
Asia. In addressing this problem, we are all
aware that we have to
make the socio-economic and political
development processes more
people-centered, inclusive and based on
equality and justice. The
social sector issues of South Asia are too
many as any other issues.
But I think the most important ones at hand
are combating terrorism in
all its forms and manifestations, preventing
and controlling the use
of narcotic drugs and psychotropic
substances, controlling other
transnational crimes and addressing the
issues of women and children,
including the elimination of worst forms of
violence against them. The
existing conventions in the social sector
will prove their worth if
they are backed by enabling national
legislations and the mechanisms
to address these issues. They have to be
promoted in a more harmonized
way by, among other things, involving the
civil society organizations
and the private sector in the process.
Mr. Chairman, Excellencies, Ladies and
Gentlemen,
We in Nepal have made a commitment to
bringing all social classes,
ethnic groups, and geographic regions into
the national mainstream
while putting an end to the decade old
conflict through the successive
consolidation of peace process. Our main
priority is how to ensure
inclusiveness of the social class, gender
and peoples living in
various geographic areas in the governance
of the country in order to
enable them to shape their own destiny.
Following the successful
Constituent Assembly elections of April 10,
2008, the country is
pursuing the path of socio-economic and
political transformation
process in an attempt to bring the peace
process to a logical
conclusion and realize the dream of making a
new Nepal based on
democratic ideals, equality, justice and
inclusive progress.
We have built strong bonds of trust and
fraternity within SAARC since
its establishment 23 years ago. We believe
in collective actions to
promote collective prosperity. We must
consolidate our work to bring
this common vision into reality.
This is a propitious time to attain our
objectives, and they are
indispensable to take our region to a new
height. This is the promise
that we have made to the people and we must
deliver. And looking at
the long-term perspectives, we hold the view
that we have no other
option than to synergize all our efforts,
based on the proven
complementarities of South Asia, to realize
the noble objectives of
SAARC.
Thank you
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