SAARC JICA alumni kicks off in city today
Saturday, 19 July 2008
The long-awaited alliance among the alumni of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in South Asia is going to take shape in the city today, with delegates meeting from all the eight member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), organisers said, reports BSS.
The SAARC JICA Alumni Association, which intends to work as a catalyst for regional prosperity, will be formed on the basis of consensus among the top office bearers of the alumni associations of the eight countries.
The presidents, general secretaries and representatives of JICA Alumni Associations of Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are expected to arrive today for sitting with their Bangladesh counters to form the regional forum at BIAM today.
The JICA alumni associations comprise members of the cross section of professionals who once had the opportunity to undergo training programme in Japan under JICA sponsorship.
More than 30,000 members now belong to JICA alumni associations in south Asia, with nearly 1,500 Bangladesh alumni playing the most active role in the region.
"JICA would feel proud if it can contribute to help establish better understanding among the people of SAARC states Resident Representative of JICA Bangladesh Nobuko Suzuki Kayashima told the news agency in an interview earlier.
She said the regional forum is expected to yield a positive result in enhancing people to people contact and mutual cooperation in power, transportation and other potential sectors to cut poverty.
As an observer to SAARC, Nobuko said, Japan wanted to foster peace and friendly coexistence among the member states of SAARC, a forum formed with seven south Asian states in 1985 with Afghanistan joining it last year.
She said the new alumni would act independently like other country-level alumni associations to reach its objectives and JICA would love to support it.
Mohammad Ejar Uddin, general secretary of JICA Alumni Association Bangladesh and the main organiser for the SAARC alumni, said the objective behind the SAARC JICA association was to bring equitable and sustainable development in south Asia, which covers only three per cent of world's land surface but accommodates around 1.50 billion people.
He said the SAARC JICA would focus on utilising the expertise of the alumni, who have shown their keen interest to arrest poverty in south Asia, where nearly half of the population still live on less than a dollar a day.
Women and Children, and Primary Education Affairs Adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury, Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Masayuki Inoue and JICA resident representative Nobuko Suzuki Kayashima are expected to attend the programme.
The SAARC JICA Alumni Association, which intends to work as a catalyst for regional prosperity, will be formed on the basis of consensus among the top office bearers of the alumni associations of the eight countries.
The presidents, general secretaries and representatives of JICA Alumni Associations of Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are expected to arrive today for sitting with their Bangladesh counters to form the regional forum at BIAM today.
The JICA alumni associations comprise members of the cross section of professionals who once had the opportunity to undergo training programme in Japan under JICA sponsorship.
More than 30,000 members now belong to JICA alumni associations in south Asia, with nearly 1,500 Bangladesh alumni playing the most active role in the region.
"JICA would feel proud if it can contribute to help establish better understanding among the people of SAARC states Resident Representative of JICA Bangladesh Nobuko Suzuki Kayashima told the news agency in an interview earlier.
She said the regional forum is expected to yield a positive result in enhancing people to people contact and mutual cooperation in power, transportation and other potential sectors to cut poverty.
As an observer to SAARC, Nobuko said, Japan wanted to foster peace and friendly coexistence among the member states of SAARC, a forum formed with seven south Asian states in 1985 with Afghanistan joining it last year.
She said the new alumni would act independently like other country-level alumni associations to reach its objectives and JICA would love to support it.
Mohammad Ejar Uddin, general secretary of JICA Alumni Association Bangladesh and the main organiser for the SAARC alumni, said the objective behind the SAARC JICA association was to bring equitable and sustainable development in south Asia, which covers only three per cent of world's land surface but accommodates around 1.50 billion people.
He said the SAARC JICA would focus on utilising the expertise of the alumni, who have shown their keen interest to arrest poverty in south Asia, where nearly half of the population still live on less than a dollar a day.
Women and Children, and Primary Education Affairs Adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury, Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Masayuki Inoue and JICA resident representative Nobuko Suzuki Kayashima are expected to attend the programme.