Three-day CIRDAP ministerial retreat begins June 24

New Delhi, June 20 (UNI) Vice President M Hamid Ansari will inaugurate a three-day ministerial retreat and special session of Governing Council (GC) of 14 CIRDAP member countries being held at Vigyan Bhavan from June 24.

Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh will preside over the ministerial retreat. Mr Nasser C Pangandaman, Chairman, CIRDAP from Philippines will preside over the Business Session of GC.

Ministers, secretaries and other senior officers of respective rural development and agrarian reforms ministries from member countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam will attend the special session being organised by the Rural Development Ministry, in collaboration with Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP).

Member countries will share their collective experience on use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for effective implementation of rural development programmes and promoting gender equality and empowerment of women through these programmes. Major initiatives launched by India in these fields will be showcased in the ministerial retreat whose focus will be on ''Creation of Sustainable Livelihoods for the Rural Poor''.

Successful implementation of e-governance projects like Bhoomi in Karnataka and e-Seva in Andhra Pradesh and the lessons learnt from these and other initiatives such as poverty reduction efforts and bridging the gender gap will be shared by the member countries which will help them for designing efficient delivery systems for rural development and livelihood promotion.

In this context, India's notable success in the self-help movement in a number of states in India could be a role model for emulation. Sharing India's experience will help the member countries in exploring more effective approaches for overcoming these development gaps.

The ministerial retreat will conclude with the adoption of a declaration which will enable the policy makers, planners and agencies working in the field of rural development in CIRDAP member countries to deliberate on related issues and formulate an action plan after taking into consideration the implications of the new world scenario and globalisation.

CIRDAP, an inter-governmental regional organisation was set up in 1979 by FAO/UN with its headquarters in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The centre is broadly mandated to facilitate the provision of services that will influence policy formulation and programme action towards rural development in its member countries. The member countries have a total population of 2.03 billion and around 58 per cent of them live in the rural areas.

UNI SD SR KP1842