Cirdap ministerial meet begins in Delhi tomorrow

The government of India and Cirdap are jointly organising a ministerial meeting followed by a ministerial retreat of rural development ministers of 14 countries of the Asia-Pacific region to be held from June 24-26 in New Delhi, says a press release.
The ministerial meeting, which is a special meeting of the Cirdap Governing Council (GC), will be held on June 24 at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi and the ministerial retreat to be held from June 25-26 at the same venue.
The programme will be inaugurated by Vice President of India Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari, while Rural Development Minister Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh will preside over the ministerial retreat.
Ministers and/or their representatives from all of the 14 Cirdap member countries (CMCs) will participate in both the programmes. The CMCs include Afghanistan, Bangladesh (host country), India, Indonesia, Iran, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
LGRD and Cooperatives Adviser Anwarul Iqbal will represent Bangladesh at the meeting.
The special GC meeting will finalise Cirdap's actions and preparations for the high-profile ministerial meeting on rural development to be held in Bangladesh in 2009. It will also discuss the activities of the centre.
Discussions in the ministerial retreat will be focused on 'Sustainable Livelihoods, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Empowerment of Women'. These sectors' progress in India will be showcased in some of the sessions during the programme. At the end of the retreat, the ministers are expected to adopt a declaration on rural development.
The CMCs have a total population of 2.02 billion people and around 58 percent of them live in rural areas. The region is also home to nearly two thirds of estimated 1.2 billion extreme poor of the world.
In spite of the notable strides made in economic growth in most of the CMCs, vast majority of the people are still not able to meet their basic needs despite their primary role in the development process. There is an urgent need to reassess and address the constraints and the measures to be taken to improve the lives of the rural poor in this region. The meetings and the retreat will try to address some of these issues.
The current food crisis due to rising cost of food sparked riots across many countries. FAO Director General Jacques Diouf warned of a civil war in some countries because of the global food shortage and called for a revamp of the international food system.
The Indian finance minister called ethanol production “a crime against humanity” (Washington Post, April 20, 2008). Thus, attaining the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the number of undernourished by 2015 has become a nightmare. It is evident that sustainable agriculture and rural development absorbs a wide range of economic, socio-cultural and environmental issues, the release added.
Recent developments in ICT have introduced a plethora of avenues for development, breaking barriers to human knowledge, to participate and to economic opportunities among others. Indian e-governance initiatives have resulted in improving communications infrastructure and providing service to citizens.
The Indian government's informatics support to central ministries, state governments and local administration has led to a deeper understanding of governance issues which paved way for successful designing and implementation of many e-governance projects like 'Land Records (Bhumi)', 'AGMARNET', etc.
As poverty reduction needs to be focused on particular disadvantaged groups within societies, the issue of woman empowerment particularly in the rural areas is also an important area to be discussed.
Illiteracy and lack of formal education prevent women in the rural areas from accessing information which is also true for many countries in this region. Sharing India's experience with others will help in exploring more effective approaches and efforts to overcome the gender gaps and biases.
These achievements will be showcased and presented during the retreat to share and enhance the learning experience among the CMCs.