First two-day SAARC Young Parliamentarians Conference kicks off in Islamabad

Reuters: The first two-day South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) Young Parliamentarians’ Conference with the key theme of ‘Peace & Harmony for Development’ began in the Pakistani capital Islamabad yesterday.

Delegates from Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and hosts Pakistan are participating in the two-day conference. The objective of the conference is to give young parliamentarians a narrative of progress to the upcoming SAARC conference to be held in Islamabad in November.

The Conference is being jointly hosted by National Assembly (lower house) of Pakistan and Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services.

Amid the rising tensions between India and Pakistan over recent violence in Kashmir, a three-member Indian Parliamentary delegation reached Islamabad on Tuesday to participate in the meet.

Led by Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo of the Biju Janata Dal party in the Lok Sabha, the other two members in the delegation are Alok Tiwari of Samajwadi Party in the Rajya Sabha and another Lok Sabha member of parliament Devisingh Patel.

Significantly, the next big item on the SAARC agenda for the year is the SAARC Finance Ministers’ Conference to be held at Islamabad on 25 and 26 August. It is not known as yet whether the Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will travel to Pakistan for the meet. Doubts have been raised after the recent unpleasant situation that arose when the Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited Pakistan to attend the SAARC Home/Interior Ministers conference.

A report on the Pakistan state run news agency-Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said that the Pakistan Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday chaired a meeting to review the arrangements for the upcoming SAARC Finance Ministers conference.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, the National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that South Asia must not remain a “prisoner of the past” but it should radiate fresh ideas and aspirations of our combined future.

Sadiq outlined that shared cultures and histories of the region, and developing economies could provide ample opportunities to work together to address common challenges. He said that the inaugural SAARC Young Parliamentarians Conference was a milestone to strategise a vision of vibrant, skilled and socially proactive youth citizenship in all member countries.

“Forums like South Asian Association for Regional cooperation (SAARC) and Association of SAARC speakers and parliamentarians are uniquely positioned platform to engage with the people of the region and for the governments to collaborate to promote and bring about peace and harmony. Attention must be paid to encouraging youth participation in politics and civil society, and bringing about gender equality in all dimensions of our societies,” said Sadiq.

“I am sure that diverse themes being discussed and deliberated by the inaugural SAARC Young Parliamentarians conference will augment efforts of all young parliamentarians from the region to provide a sustainable solution to our common challenges of human security, abject poverty, malnutrition, addressing climate change and meeting of the newly instituted sustainable development goals,” he added.

For two days the young parliamentarians will share ideas, deliberate upon confronting challenges, identify avenues for cooperation and finalise strategy to implement their consensus-based ideas in the future.

The Conference will lay down the foundation of strong inter-parliamentary linkages across South Asia.

With sub-themes such as peace and development, human rights, sustainable development, regional trade, cultural diplomacy, youth issues and social inclusion, the conference is to conclude on Wednesday with an Islamabad Declaration.