Hon’ble D.M. Jayaratne, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka; Hon’ble Chamal Rajapaksa, Speaker, Parliament of Sri Lanka and Honorary President CPA; Hon’ble Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the Opposition and Vice-President CPA; Hon’ble Dr. Fehmida Mirza ,Speaker of National Assembly of Pakistan; Hon’ble Md. Abdul Hamid, Speaker of Jatiya Sangsad of Bangladesh; Hon’ble Mr. Abdulla Shahid, Speaker of People’s Majlis of Maldives; Hon’ble Members of Parliament; Secretaries General; Distinguished Delegates; Ladies & Gentlemen:

Ayubowan,
Obe ratata pemineema gena behevin satutu wemi

I must say that this country is rightly known as the Emerald Island. In less than 24 hours that I have been here, I have been captivated by the beauty of the historical city of Colombo which has some of the most magnificent sights one can see anywhere on earth. It gives an untrammeled view of the vastness of the Indian Ocean whose waters, one way or the other, join many of us like a deep matrix of cultural and linguistic similarities. It is indeed a pleasure to meet amid such exquisite scenery with its profound connections. I would like to convey the warm greetings of the people and Parliament of India to His Excellency Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka, Hon’ble D.M. Jayaratne, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Hon’ble Chamal Rajapaksa, Speaker, Parliament of Sri Lanka, Hon’ble Members of Parliament and the people of Sri Lanka.

It is a great honour for me to address this august gathering. I have always looked forward to visiting your country. This visit is yet another affirmation of the historical ties and bonds of friendship and cooperation which exist between us. It is in this spirit that I also take this opportunity to convey to you the deep sympathies of the people, the Parliament and Government of India at the devastation that has been caused by the rain and floods across large parts of Sri Lanka. We have been deeply saddened by the loss of life and damage to property. We stand ready to provide whatever additional assistance is required.

Friends,

It was more than two thousand years ago that Emperor Ashoka sent Prince Mahinda and Princess Sanghmitra to Sri Lanka with  the sapling of the holy Bodhi Tree and message of love and peace. Since then, time and again, our friendship has been reinforced and has withstood the test of time.

I would also like to convey the best wishes of the people and Parliament of India to the Hon’ble Speakers and members of the delegations from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives, the other three member states who bring with them their own unique experience of Parliamentary participation and oversight. All of us have demonstrated an abiding faith in democracy and our people have struggled to overcome every impediment in the way of democratic governance. Together the region has the ability to nurture and protect democracies which are in their nascent stages and strengthen those which have taken roots. When such nations come together in a forum like this they send a very powerful message to the world.

The Asia Region of the CPA represents an immensely heterogeneous spectrum of humanity, in which exist a plethora of cultures, languages, religions, habitats and socio-economic groupings. While culturally we may be a kaleidoscope of diversities, politically we stand united under the umbrella of democracy. Stability and sustainable development with inclusive growth are our goals, although the path to the attainment of these goals is not free from its own set of challenges.

Inclusive growth has, in fact, been hampered by several problems like poverty, food and water shortage, health, particularly that of mothers and infants, environmental degradation, climate change and human rights abuse. Above all these, are the challenges arising out of terrorism. Our endeavour is to achieve inclusive development without compromising peace and security in the region. The 3rd CPA Asia Regional Conference is extremely relevant as it seeks to address some of these concerns in its Plenary Sessions.

Poverty is the most daunting challenge facing us today. It deprives people of even the most basic dignity and freedom. Hence the very first of the Millennium Development Goals callsfor reducing by half, the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day. It also aims at reducing by half, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger, by 2015. Despite these global commitments, the overall achievements towards poverty eradication have been slow and uneven. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2010 has pointed out that under-nutrition among children under five continues to be widely prevalent.

In India, we have focused on poverty reduction since our Independence. We have reduced the share of the poor in the population from 54.8 per cent in 1973-74 to 27.5 per cent in 2004-05, however, in absolute terms more than 300 million people are still living below the poverty line. As a strategy for poverty reduction, we have adopted a three pronged approach that seeks to accelerate economic growth by focusing on sectors that are employment intensive, to bring about human and social development by providing basic minimum services and to introduce anti-poverty programmes. Our Parliament has enacted National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 which provides 100 days of guaranteed employment in a financial year to every household below poverty line in the villages.

I firmly believe that as parliamentarians we have to take the lead in evolving a national consensus for empowering the poor in each of our countries by displaying the political will to democratise and decentralise at a faster pace.

Climate change and global warming have emerged as major threats resulting in rising sea levels and causing natural disasters like tsunamis, floods, droughts, cyclones and earthquakes. The South Asia Region in particular, is extremely vulnerable to these natural calamities which have frequently struck our region with ferocity. The loss in terms of lives and assets and deprivation and dislocation suffered by the people is enormous. This has necessitated a shift to pre-disaster aspects of mitigation, prevention and preparedness. We have therefore established National Disaster Management Authorities at the Centre, State and District levels. We have also constituted the National Disaster Response Force for providing specialists emergency response to situations and have set up a National Institute of Disaster Management for training and capacity building. National Disaster Response Fund and National Disaster Mitigation Fund have been created to provide financial relief to those affected. Our National policy on Disaster Management aims at bringing transparency and accountability in all aspects of disaster management by involving local communities, community-based organizations, Panchayati Raj Institutions and civil society.

I would like to mention here that a SAARC Disaster Management Centre has been established at New Delhi in 2006 to network with various organizations and institutions in the South Asian region for research, documentation, training and capacity building. India whole-heartedly supports initiatives to facilitate regional cooperation in confronting the challenges posed by natural disasters and we are ever keen to share our expertise and experience in the field with our neighbours.

I am glad that this Conference will provide an opportunity to deliberate on ‘mother and child’ welfare. It is unfortunate that millions of newborn babies die every year due to poor health and nutritional status of the mother. The Global Strategy for Women’s and C