Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said that poverty is the common enemy of South Asia.

“An enemy that is draining our potentials, an enemy that is ridiculing our collective efforts, an enemy that is threatening the whole of South Asia and an enemy that is testing our abilities and intentions,” he said in his inaugural address to the 37th Saarc ministerial meeting in Pokhara on Thursday. The one-day conclave discussed a wide range of issues and agendas.

“We need to work together to conquer this enemy. We need to intensify our cooperation to wipe out the very traces of this enemy. We need to act collectively to annihilate this common enemy,” the PM said, adding that the region has the capacity and resources to do so.

Touching upon connectivity and integration, Nepal’s foremost priority in South Asia, the PM said connectivity remains a key enabler for robust regional cooperation.

Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa said the Saarc’s progress has not matched its promises. “We must confess that we have not been able to fulfil the expectations that the people of the region had aspired during the inception of Saarc.”

Saarc Secretary General Arjun Bahadur Thapa highlighted the progress made by the regional grouping in the last three decades.