Collective efforts a must to tackle natural calamities in S Asia

President tells Saarc Diploma Engineers Forum Meet

23 May 2010, 18:00 PM

Unb, Dhaka

President Zillur Rahman yesterday emphasised collective initiatives to tackle the natural calamities like flood, draught, earthquake and Tsunami as well as environmental degradation through exchange of weather and climate data among the South Asian countries. “I believe that exchange of data on weather and climate as well as technological and IT knowledge are important to address these issues,” he said, addressing the 9th Apex Body Meet and International Seminar of Saarc Diploma Engineers Forum (SDEF) at IDEB Bhaban in the city. The president noted that about 1.5 billion people are the proud members of Saarc -- one-fifth of total civilisation. “The role of Saarc, therefore, is of paramount importance in developing the socio-economic, cultural, and living standard of this large population,” he said. He mentioned that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has made some proposals to the leaders of South Asia to free this region from terrorism and poverty. The proposals, he said, include formation of a regional taskforce for eradicating terrorism, a unified currency, forming visa-free South Asia, exchanging information technology, establishing Saarc University and Saarc Bank, developing and protecting flora and fauna in the region with a view to improving the quality of life and accelerating economic growth and social progress. Zillur also said the Saarc Leaders have agreed to form a 'South Asia Forum' to expedite the activities of Saarc. The 'Saarc Charter of Democracy', a proposal made by Bangladesh, has also been accepted in the summit to evolve into multi-party democracy and good governance in the member states of Saarc, he said. He noted that the agenda of food security, environment, agriculture, energy, trade and commerce, tourism, combating terrorism, and facing the natural disasters have widely been discussed in the last Saarc Summit in Thimpu. The president said with the implementation of those agenda, the socio-economic condition of the people of South Asia would greatly improve. Describing poverty as a curse for the people of the Saarc region, he also stressed the need for collective efforts to eradicate poverty. “Exchanging IT-knowledge and sharing experience as well as simplification of regional connectivity are imperative to eradicate poverty,” he said. He hoped that cooperation, positive attitude and competence of the technologists would help materialise the expectations of the people. About the impact of climate change, Zillur said the South Asia is under massive risk of negative impact of climate change, which threatens to inundate the coastal belts and islands particularly low-lying areas of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives due to the rise of sea level. RK Rawat, chairman of Saarc Diploma Engineers Forum, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Secretary General of SDEF, Laxman Bahadur Rayamajhi, co-chairman (Nepal) Apex Body SDEF, Kamalnath Jinadasa, co-chairman (Sri Lanka) Apex Body SDEF, and Akhlaq Ahmed, co-chairman (Pakistan) Apex Body SDEF also spoke on the occasion.