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| Monday, 08 November 2004 |
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Speaking at the leadership initiative organised by the Hindustan Times group in New Delhi, India on November 5, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga summarised her proposals for an Action Plan for South Asian unity. * To do all that is required to keep to the targets. To make SAFTA operational by the year 2006 together with the adoption of other measures required for trade and economic co- operation. * Formulate effective regional action plans within the UN Millennium Development Goals Programme and implement them within a limited timeframe. Thereby we would successfully alleviate much of the poverty which is the scourge of our nations. * Formulate action plans for achieving the targets set out in the SAARC Social Charter relating to poverty alleviation, health, education, women, youth and children. We must note here that the Millennium Development Goals Programme covers most of these areas. We could include therefore the targets set out in the Social Charter with the National and Regional Action Plans for the Millennium Development Goals Programme. * We still have a long way to go in successfully achieving the targets set out in the SAARC Convention for Child Welfare and Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution. We must address this urgently. Our region must accelerate existing programmes for the liberation and uplift of the woman. Development programmes which do not solicit active participation of women and youth in our countries will not reach their full potential in poverty alleviation and overall development of the society. * We must also adopt more innovative programmes for the people to people contact in our region. No doubt the business community, the lawyers and the judiciary and the accountants co-operate effectively within their regional associations. * We must also promote co-operation between other groups of professionals, intellectuals, artists and why not the politicians at various levels. I think that interaction between politicians within our region still remain at a most unsatisfactory level. I would say there is an urgent need to promote interaction amongst this group, because after all it is they who decide finally all policies, national, regional and international. Mutual understanding and awareness of each other's problems will certainly help to reduce tensions in the region. * We must also begin to look at possible arrangements for strengthening regional security co-operation. This probably would prove to be most difficult under the present circumstances of prevailing tensions in our region. But it is also therefore a necessity. Varying systems of co-operation in security matters could be designed and adopted between different states with the objective of reaching regional security co-operation at a later stage. In conclusion, it may be pertinent to state once more that cultural heritage need not be a divisive force. We must and I believe we can ensure that our diverse cultures, yet our common heritage contains the seed of unity within that diversity. If we work together we can draw strength from the richness of our civilisational traditions in order to give life to a new and modern South Asian unity. I truly believe that today we have arrived at the threshold of effective action to realize the dreams and aspirations of our people; freedom from poverty, from ignorance, under-development and from constant conflict which could best be achieved through regional unity of South Asian States. |
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