KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today said the country was pursuing economic and social transformation by institutionalising federal democratic republic. He expressed hope that the country would see sustainable political stability with an end to current political transition once all the three levels of elections— local, provincial and federal— were concluded. 'The new constitution is being enforced, helping institutionalise the republic. Local elections will be concluded after their third round is held on September 18, while election date for the state assembly and federal has already been set,' he said, while addressing the two-day roundtable discussion by the National Planning Commission with the support of various development organisations. The event was aimed at reviewing the situation of food security and nutrition in the region. A total of 116 representatives from various 16 countries in the region including Nepal have participated in the discussion. Stating that Nepal had made significant achievements in reducing stunting among children under five-year age from 57 percent in 2001 to 36 percent in 2016, PM Deuba said yet the stunting remained worryingly high. The Prime Minister also pledged to further streamline and make the food and nutrition programme, aimed at girl child below five, students and women, more effective. The President of Nepali Congress also shared that Nepal had effectively implemented the Multi-sector Nutrition Programme (2013-2017) and expressed his confidence that the second phase of such programme (2018-2022) would be brought into effect effectively. According to him, the government had attached priority to agendas such as sustainable agriculture development for poverty reduction, increase in the agricultural produce, development of physical infrastructures and health reforms among others. Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education Gopalman Shrestha appraised the programme that the government had dealt with the issues of food and nutrition security from the rights-based approach instead of the humanitarian aspect. 'Continuous attempts aim to see food and nutritional improvement are being made through the coordination among ministries concerned and free school lunch programmes are in operation to improve in the status of nutrition among school children,' said Shrestha. Similarly, NPC vice chair Swarnim Wagle, highlighting the importance of food and nutrition in the socio-economic transformation, said the NPC had, bearing this fact in mind, prepared the Multi-sector Nutrition Plan for the second phase. 'The situation of availability of food and nutrition is different in the rural and urban areas, and distinct programmes and policies are needed to address the issues specifically.' Likewise, Prof Dr Geeta Bhakta Joshi of NPC expressed his hope that the discussion would help bring additional policies and programmes to see further food and nutritional improvement. Representatives from the World Bank, European Union, UK Government and the United Nations Children's Fund are taking part in the event where they will announce their additional funding in the sector of food and nutrition improvement. As stated by WB expert Roshan Bajracharya, the bank would increase its investment in the food and nutrition programmes in the South Asian nations in the days ahead.