During the meeting, Saleem apprised the NPC vice-chairman of the ongoing efforts of the SAARC Secretariat aimed at alleviating poverty in the region. The initiatives included publication of the Regional Poverty Profiles (RPPs), 2009-10 and 2011-12 on the themes “Food Security Challenges for the Poor and Social Inclusion” and “SAARC Development Goals (SDGs) Achievements”, respectively; holding of an Inter-Governmental Expert Group at the Secretariat in September 2013 to discuss the achievements of SDGs; holding of a Workshop to formulate SAARC´s position on Post-2015 Development Agenda; and convening of Symposium on Best Practices on Poverty Alleviation in South Asia. [break]
Saleem was accompanied by Nepal Director Dhan Bahadur Oli, who heads the Poverty Alleviation Division at the SAARC Secretariat.
On the occasion, Shakya pledged the support of Nepal toward the initiatives of the SAARC Secretariat in reducing poverty in the region, to which, he added, Nepal also attached high priority at the national level. At the Twelfth SAARC Summit held in Islamabad in 2004, the Heads of State or Government declared poverty alleviation as the “overarching” goal of SAARC.
Subsequently, the Thirteenth SAARC Summit held in Dhaka in 2005 declared the decade of 2006-15 as the Decade of Poverty Alleviation.
According to the World Bank estimates, SAARC is home to a population of 1.65 billion of which 32 percent fall below the international poverty line at US$ 1.25 per capita per day. The average per capita Gross National Income (GNI) of SAARC countries stood at US $ 1358.00 in 2012. The GNI of South Asia has been growing by 6.53 percent annually during the last decade.
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