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In the media Special Correspondent, The Hindu - 7th March 2008

Seven members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation will step up collaborative and individual social science research in their countries to help to devise policies on the basis of scientific evidence.

This agreement was arrived at during the second meeting of the Regional Forum of the Ministers of Social Development of the SAARC Region, which concluded here on Thursday.

Of the view that most of the region paid scant attention to social science research, Ministers from India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka decided to facilitate it.

Adopting the New Delhi Declaration, the seven countries also agreed to recognise the predominant place which needed to be given to social development in line with the Copenhagen commitments on Social Development and its follow-up, the Millennium Development Goals and the SAARC Development Goals as outlined in the SAARC Social Charter.

Since the focus of this conference was on the Right to Information and how it could become an effective tool of social empowerment, the seven countries agreed to promote and facilitate through exchange of the best practices “early adoption, in accordance with national priorities, of appropriate legislation, conferring the right to information on all citizens from the governments and public authorities, to eliminate arbitrariness and corrupt practices and improve governance at the regional, national and local levels.” The membercountries would be encouraged to assist Afghanistan in addressing its special needs in education, technical and vocational training, development of new technologies, protection of disabled persons, protection of children at risk, and control of use of narcotics and drug trafficking.