Kathamndu, February 1:

For the first time in the last 350 years, the global economy is undergoing a shift in its centre of gravity from the continents of Europe and North America to Asia. If South Asian countries develop an integrated economy, then the region can indeed become the second largest economy in the world.

South Asia, however, happens to be the home to the largest number of poor people across the world. With a deeply divided society, seeped in deprivation and riven with tension, the crisis of poverty here is compounded by the malfunctioning of its democracies.

These were some of the deliberations at the half-day regional seminar on “Poverty Reduction Strategies in South Asia: Social Charter and Monitoring of SAARC Policies and Programmes,” organised by the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS) in Kathmandu, today.

An outcome of institutional collaboration between some of the leading think-tanks and academic institutions of South Asia, SACEPS encourages study of key issues of development interest to the countries of the region and contributes to strengthening cooperation in areas of common interest. Set up in 1998, SACEPS became fully operational in 2002. “It is currently networking with national organisations and non-governmental organisations in each of the SAARC countries,” said former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, Mohan Man Sainju, who happens to be one of the founder members of SACEPS. At an inaugural, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sahana Pradhan said the findings of these studies could provide valuable inputs for poverty alleviation in the region. For a stable, secure and peaceful South Asia, we need to develop a synergy of efforts both at national and regional level, she added.

The seminar discussed three themes undertaken by SACEPS with the cooperation of its partner institutions in South Asia: Poverty Reduction Strategies in South Asia; Implementing the SAARC and Citizen’s Social Charter for South Asia; and Monitoring of SAARC Policies and Programmes.

Far from being just a research institution, SACEPS was into advocacy actual policy formulations, pointed out SACEPS executive director Sridhar K Khatri. The seminar would be followed by a board meeting on Saturday, he informed.