The 14th meeting of the Governing Council (GC) of the Centre of Integrated Rural Development in Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP), was inaugurated by Indonesian president Megawati Soekarnaputri on Monday. The meeting called for greater interactions of the regional countries in the field of reduction of poverty, which is the key to development.

LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan led the Bangladesh delegation to the GC meeting.

In his statement, Mannan Bhuiyan outlined the government's policy and efforts to eradicate poverty at national level.

Indonesia's Minister for Home Affairs Hari Sabarna, who was the chairperson of the ministerial meeting, told the concluding session that the CIRDAP has to march ahead with its avowed objectives of poverty alleviation and rural development despite resource constraints caused by declining contributions by some donor agencies.

Director general of the Dhaka-based CIRDAP Dr Mya Maung said the inter-governmental organisation is playing a useful role in the region and called for strengthening the regional institution.

The GC meeting decided that Dr Durga Prasad Paduyal of Nepal will be the next director general of the CIRDAP for a four-year term as the tenure of Dr Maung ends in July next year.

Earlier, Bangladesh, Thailand and India held this position. The current DG of CIRDAP, which was set up in 1979, is from Myanmar.