Day for Eradication of Poverty:

'Focus on poverty alleviation'

Senior Minister for International Monetary Coorporation Dr. Sarath Amunugama invited everyone to look at issues of poverty alleviation from the perspective of the poor: emphasizing the importance of enhancing the capabilities of the poor to lift themselves out of poverty marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty at the Institute of Policy Studies Auditorium.

These remarks were made during the inaugural session of a Policy Dialogue, hosted jointly by the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS), Economic Development Ministry and the United Nations in Sri Lanka under the theme "From Poverty to Sustainability - People at the Centre of Inclusive Development".

The minister highlighted Sri Lanka's success in poverty alleviation and called for detailed research and analysis of current social welfare practices to better define future programmes factoring on issues of inventive, proper targeting and structural issues of labour mobility in the context of need and demands locally and globally.

UN Assistant Secretary General, Director of UNDP's Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific and Chair of the UN Development Group, Asia and the Pacific Ajay Chhibber, in a pre-recorded message, welcomed the theme in the context of Asia where many countries have sustained high rates of growth for a number of years and are now looking at how to ensure the growth translates into reducing poverty for a much higher proportion of people.

A key focus of the dialogue was how partners could collectively support the implementation of the Mahinda Chintana vision of "Balanced Regional Development with Diversity" - the intention to transform all regions to ensure every household has the opportunity to benefit from economic development. UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Subinay Nandy highlighted the opportunity presented by the end of the war and the strength of the economy, and encouraged partners to jointly look for new and bold ways of improving the lives of those that continue to live in hardship.

Speakers included representatives from the government, the Jaffna University, the Private Sector and experts from the regional and Sri Lanka country offices of ILO, UNDP, UNICEF, and WFP. Datuk Dr Jayasooria from the University Kebangsaan Malaysia delivered the keynote regional address.