By: Our Correspondent
National e-conference was held to celebrate The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Charter Day thematic upon “The New Possible, A New South Asia for a New Reality: Building a Resilient Recovery”. Speakers of the conference emphasized the need to have collective approach of respective governments and youth platforms to solve regional issues pertaining to socioeconomic stability.
The conference was was organized by Youth Advocacy Network (YAN) Pakistan. The event was moderated by Danish Tariq, who gave brief information about SAARC and the recent development being made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi on September 24th, 2020 while virtually addressing the meeting of the SAARC Council of Ministers on the sidelines of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that Pakistan is to host the 19th summit of the SAARC in Islamabad at the earliest possible.
Fsahat Ul-Hassan, Founder & CEO of YAN and Convener-SAARC Youth Platform, Valerie Khan, Ex-Chair National Action Coordination Group, Dr. Ujala Nayyar, National Professional Officer World Health Organization, Asim Nawaz Abbasi, Founder-The Dayspring Media and Muhammad Asad Zameer, Youth Advocate were among the panelists.
Fsahat Ul-Hassan in his opening remarks said that SAARC provides a platform to the youth of the region that is not well connected to the world. In order to voice the thoughts of young leaders and to connect and share the opportunities in an effective way, the SAARC Youth Platform was initiated. He further mentioned that it serves as an umbrella network for youth-led organisations and young leaders in South Asia and provides a platform to them to raise their voices upon the most important issues which matter to them and the region.
Valerie Khan shared the common problems, interests and aspirations among the South Asian countries. She added that SAARC has got the potential to resolve the common challenges with common solutions but it lacks the common action. She further added in her remarks that SAARC is the platform that provides diversity and creates common grounds which could contribute towards the positivity of the community whereas the connection through effective usage of social media might also play a key role in the development.
Asim Nawaz Abbasi highlighted the role of the media in active collaboration and mutual assistance among SAARC Countries. Abbasi insisted that media being the fifth pillar of the state should involve youth perspective so that the overall SAARC region can be a voice of 35% of the population that consists of young people and this youth bulge would get more spaces to share their thoughts and implement their innovative ideas
Dr. Ujala Nayyar highlighted the relations among SAARC countries, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and post COVID-19 era. She mentioned that each SAARC country should work collectively for being in a neighbourhood to help each other to recover better. She further added that young people should be taken on board that are already active and they should have access to the right information which should be conveyed from the right resource person to the right person whereas they should also be taught about the experience sharing to disseminate the learnings for the better future of the region.
Muhammad Asad Zameer elaborated the role of youth in the SAARC region for tackling the prevalent issue of climate change. He cautioned the youth bulge to consume the resources in a favorable manner for everyone and waste less natural resources. He also emphasised that there should be a platform in every institution to create awareness about climate change and the risks pertaining to it.
The conference was streamed live on the Facebook page of Youth Advocacy Network (YAN). Watch it live at www.facebook.com/yansrhr.org