Organizing a press meet on Sunday, MoUD Secretary Kishor Thapa said conference is also a demonstration of commitment of the country in promoting sanitation. [break]
“The Open Defecation Free (ODF) movement has already taken momentum in Nepal. This event can be crucial in accelerating its momentum more effectively,” he added.
Abadh Kishor Mishra the Joint Secretary of the MoUD stated that the ODF declaration of Bhaktapur on Monday is symbolic for all urban areas of the country as it is the first valley district to be ODF. The public opening of the two days conference would be organized in world heritage site- Bhaktapur Durbar Square scheduled to be inaugurated by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav.
Bhaktapur is the 10th ODF district whereas Kaski, Tanahun, Chitwan, Myagdi, Pyuthan, Parbat, Achham, Kalikot and Makwanpur have already been declared ODF.
Spokesperson of the MoUD Suresh Prakash Acharya stated that ministers from six countries would participate in the conference and delegates have already started to arrive in Kathmandu. As many as 400 people, including 250 from seven SAARC countries, 100 from Nepal and 50 as an expert and the representative of national and international organizations would participate in the program. Among them, 100 participants from Nepal 70 from India, 50 from Pakistan, 65 from Bangladesh, 20 from Afghanistan and 10 from Sri Lanka and the Maldives will be present. 50 international experts will also participate in the conference Delegates from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh arrived on Saturday and Sunday consecutively, the SACOSAN Secretariat informed.
Discussions on eight themes such as sanitation and health, community-wide sanitation and sustainability, school sanitation, sanitation technology and marketing would be the major highlights of the conference. Similarly, experts from participating countries will hold discussions on media advocacy and sanitation, urban sanitation, knowledge and networking. Nepal is covering the media advocacy theme this year.
The conference aims to develop a regional agenda on sanitation, enabling learning from past experiences and to set future actions for all the eight member countries, the officials have said. On the last day of the conference, the ministers of all the participant countries would hold a final discussion centering on the views in the conference and set new declarations to be implemented in the next two years, said Secretary Thapa. The ministers from two countries Pakistan and Bngladesh would not come to lead their country, the MoUD secretary said.
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