South-Asian Speaker’s Summit | 03 Sep 2019
Recently, the 4th South-Asian Speaker’s Summit on achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) concluded in Male, Maldives.
- India had a heated discussion during the summit over the Kashmir issue with Pakistan, where India rejected the politicization of the forum by raising internal issues of a particular country.
- The joint statement released by the leaders in Male unanimously supported India’s bid regarding Kashmir, & claimed it to be an internal matter of India, overlooking Pakistan’s claims.
- In the summit, the Indian delegation was led by the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
- International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) also participated in the summit in order to achieve SDGs 2 & 3 targets: Nutrition and food security as drivers of maternal, child and adolescent health in the Asia-Pacific region.
About Summit
- The Summit is intended for Speakers of the Parliaments of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
- Parliaments play a key role in ensuring a sustainable future for current and future generations- given their legislative oversight, & representative and budgetary functions.
- This forum allows Speakers of various Parliaments to continue to develop dialogue and parliamentary cooperation on achieving the SDGs.