SAARC, BIMST-EC ministerial meeting on poverty alleviation in offing

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMST-EC) ministerial level meeting on poverty alleviation is going to be held on October 23 and January, 16, 2012 respectively, in Kathmandu.
The first meeting of the steering committee for the preparation of BIMST-EC and SAARC on poverty alleviation, held recently at National Planning Commission secretariat has proposed the date for both the meetings. The proposed SAARC level ministerial meeting on poverty alleviation is the third in the series while it is the second high level BIMST-EC meeting on poverty alleviation as Bangladesh hosted the first ministerial meeting on poverty alleviation in 2008 in Dhaka.
The dates will be proposed to the respective SAARC and BIMST-EC member countries and finalised according to their consensus.
Participated by secretaries of different ministry and senior officials of Poverty Alleviation Fund, the Steering Committee meeting was chaired by the vice chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC) Dr Dinesh Chandra Devkota.
The planning commission will work as the lead agency to organise both the events while Ministry of Foreign Affairs will look into SAARC secretariat matters and hospitality. It also agreed to form a technical committee in chairmanship of Poverty Alleviation Fund vice-chair. The steering committee secretariat will be established in Poverty Alleviation Fund and Poverty Alleviation Fund executive director will work as the member secretary of the steering committee.
Senior Officers meeting will be held a day before the SAARC and BIMST-EC ministerial meeting on poverty alleviation. A national consultative meeting on country poverty issues and regional perspective in preparation of both the SAARC and BIMST-EC ministerial level meeting will also be organised.