Asia PFD kicks off in Kathmandu

Kathmandu, Sept. 24

Asia Regional Meeting of Policy Forum on Development kicked off in the capital on Tuesday.

The 3-day regional meeting is organised by the European Commission and attended by about 100 policy experts, delegates and civil society representatives from the Asia region.

It will deliberate on European Union (EU)'s regional programmes in Asia, national progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as national progress and voluntary national processes, SDGs localisation, enabling environment and tackling climate crisis.

The meeting will also take a closer look at work towards the SDGs in Nepal as well.

Bernadia Tjandradewi, Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments Asia Pacific, urged the planners to give priority to local actions and make timely decisions.

"About 60 per cent of the development targets are related to local actions. So you need to make bold and timely decision," she said.

She said that the governments should try to create enabling environment in their respective countries. She maintained that not only the developed countries like Japan had enabling environment but also nations like Bhutan had exhibited remarkable progress.

According to her, inclusive development, multi-sectoral approach, concrete plans and positive outlook are the requisite for rapid development of the society.

Tjandradewi said that the EU had been a reliable partner in development.

Peter Frisch, Senior Political Economist of the Development Cooperation Coordination Division at the European External Action Service, said that multilateralism was under strain which demanded collective development efforts.

He emphasized on international cooperation beyond poverty alleviation or the neighbourhood.

He urged the Asian countries to invest in creating human resources.

According to the organiser, the meting aims at engaging participants in commenting on challenges, solutions and overall national progress toward the 2030 agenda. It also has an objective of identifying existing practices and initiatives for implementing the SDGs at the local level, looking at decentralisation.

Published in The Rising Nepal Daily on 25 September 2019.