2-day South Asian Speakers' Summit on SDGs begins

The two-day South Asian Speakers' Summit on achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) began in Dhaka on Saturday morning, reports UNB. 

 

The Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU), Bangladesh Parliament and Washington-based organisation Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) are jointly hosting the summit at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.

 

Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Speaker of Afghanistan Abdul Raouf Ibrahimi, Speaker of the House People (Lok Sabha, India) Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker of the Majlis, the Maldives Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) President Saber Hossain Chowdhury spoke at the inaugural session of the summit.

 

However, there has been no representation from Pakistan and Nepal in the summit.

 

The summit, through various sessions, will define the opportunities and challenges facing parliaments in fully exercising their role in the implementation of the SDGs.

 

It will also assess whether parliaments in South Asia are fit for purpose to advance the vision of the SDGs.

 

Apart from Speakers, parliamentary delegations from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka are joining the summit.

 

Besides, representatives from different international organisations, including Canadian Cancer Society, American Cancer Society, IPU, UNDP, ESCAP, CTFK, WHO and Thai Health Promotion, are also participating in the two-day conference as discussants.

 

The summit will focus on five issues like importance of SDGs for the South Asian region, role of parliaments in implementing SDGs and review of its implementation progress, global health and well-being goals of SDGs, controlling tobacco epidemic and strategy and policy for controlling the use of tobacco in the South Asian countries.

 

The summit will develop a national and regional roadmap to help parliaments periodically assess national and regional progress on tobacco control.