Kathmandu, May 25:

Dr. Jagdish Chandra Pokharel, vice chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) yesterday left for Male, the capital city of Maldives to participate in the second meeting of SAARC ministers dealing with poverty alleviation.

According to a press release issued by NPC today, the meeting is scheduled to review the regional efforts made so far on poverty alleviation and the country level experiences to implement the initiatives.

The ministerial level meeting is preceded by the meeting of the secretaries of the SAARC countries dealing with poverty alleviation. Dr. Pokharel is leading a four-member delegation comprising the officiating secretary at NPC Dharani Dhar Khatiwada, joint secretary at the ministry of foreign affairs Pradumna Bikram Shah and under secretary of the office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Shankar KC.

In the meeting, Dr Pokharel will share policy initiatives taken in Nepal for poverty reduction, measures to expedite the regional efforts made so far and the new areas of the cooperation on poverty reduction agenda in which all countries in the region are striving for.