गृहमन्त्री जनार्दन शर्मा प्रभाकर श्रीलंकाको कोलोम्बोमा सार्क राष्ट्रहरुको गृहमन्त्रीस्तरीय आठौँ सम्मेलनलाई सम्बोधन गर्दै
Country
Statement by Honorable Mr. Janardan
Sharma ‘Prabhakar’ Minister for Home Affairs/Leader of Nepali Delegation at the
8th meeting of SAARC Interior/Home Ministers/Secretaries
13
July, 2017,
Colombo,
Sri Lanka
Mr. Chairman
Honorable Ministers
Excellency the
Secretary General of SAARC
Home/Interior
Secretaries and Heads of Delegations
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies
and Gentlemen
I
am delighted to attend this meeting being held today in this beautiful city Colombo.At
the outset,I would like to extendhearty congratulations to you, Mr. Chairman,
on your unanimous election as the Chair for this meeting. I wish to take the
opportunity to extend our deep appreciation and sincere thanks to the
Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for extending warm
welcome and generous hospitality to me and my delegation and making excellent
arrangements for the meetings. I would also appreciate the Home/Interior Secretaries
and Immigration Authorities for their tireless efforts to make the meetings
successful.
I
would also like to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Amjad Hussain B. Sial for
assuming the charge of Secretary General of SAARC and express mythanks toMr.
Secretary Generaland his team for the excellent worksdone for the preparation of
the meetings.
Mr.
Chairman,
SAARC
needs to enhance people-to-people contacts in order to fulfill its objectives
as enshrined in SAARC Charter. In this regard, facilitation of people's
mobility across the region remains important from the perspective of promoting
trade, tourism and travel in the region.At the same time, we have the
responsibility to ensure the security of our people and country. We further
have duty to prevent the incident of terrorism and crimes in all their forms
and manifestations. Despite our best efforts and actions, we have been confronting
growing threats of terrorism and transnational crimes day by day.
Mr.
Chairman,
Today,
terrorism has become a scourge of entire humankind. Senseless killing of innocent people in the terrorist attacks in the
region is a matter of our great concern and we must address it collectively and
more resolutely.
Let
me recall the directives of our leaders during 18th SAARC Summit emphasizing on
the full and effective implementation of the SAARC Regional Convention on
Suppression of Terrorism and its Additional Protocol. They also underlined the
importance of a UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.
We
wish to share this august gathering Nepal's initiatives and actions in this
regard. Nepal is a party to six international anti-terrorist instruments. Nepal
has also signed the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist
Bombing. Nepal stands for an early conclusion and effective implementation of a
Comprehensive Convention against International Terrorism.
Nepal
has enacted necessary legal instruments for effective implementation of the Regional
Convention and its Additional Protocol.
Nepal has introducedseven important legislations to combat terrorism which
include: Electronic Transaction Act, 2008, Money Laundering
Prevention Act, 2008, Asset (Money) Laundering Prevention
Rules, 2009, Organized Crime Control Act, 2014, Extradition Act, 2014, Mutual
Legal Assistance Act, 2014, Confiscation of Criminal Proceeds Act, 2014.A
review committee is operational to address Money laundering related issues. We
have amended our money Laundering regulation as per the international
standards.
We
have already established several mechanisms in SAARC process. Now it is the
time tofocus on effective implementation of our commitments and decisions. Our
efforts and actions should be result-oriented to meet the expectation of our
people.
Mr.
Chairman,
Human
and drug trafficking, money laundering, organizational crimes, cross border
crimes are also daunting challenges in our region. Nepal has setup various institutional
mechanisms. Nepalalso has enacted necessary legal instruments. With regard to human
trafficking, Nepal has ratified various international and regional human rights
instruments. However, our efforts, cooperation and collaboration are critical
in addressing these challenges.
Mr.
Chairman,
Corruption
impacts to societies adversely. Corruption is a major obstacle to democracy and
the rule of law. It undermines people's trust in the political system, in its
institutions and its leadership. In Nepal we have undertakenlegal, structural
and organizational measures to curb corruption. The Commission for the
Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), a constitutional body, is
performing independently and effectively.
Mr.
Chairman,
Today,
cybercrime has also been a great threat to our progress and prosperity. Nepal
urges Member States to take up this issue more seriously. Our leaders had
agreed to establish Cyber Crime Monitoring Desk. We should make Cyber Crime
Monitoring Desk operational at the earliest.
We
underline the importance of undertakingconcerted efforts at national, regional
and international level in order to fight against terrorism, trafficking and
other trans-border crimes. Information sharing on real time basis and
networking among relevant agencies remains much more critical.We can wipe out
terrorism and transnational crimes with our firm commitment, collective efforts
and resolute actions.
Before
I conclude, Mr. Chairman, I would like to briefly touch upon the recent
political developments in Nepal. We are implementing federal, democratic and
inclusive constitution. In this process, we successfully held local level
elections and are preparing to hold Provincial and Federal elections. With the
completion of these elections, we are heading towards political stability,
economic prosperity and social transformation. We strongly believe we will be
able to garner support from the member states of SAARC.
With
this, I conclude my statement.