Book titled ‘Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on SDGs of South Asia’ released

KATHMANDU: A book titled ‘Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on SDGs of South Asia’ was released in Kathmandu on September 28.

The book was launched amidst a programme organised by the Consortium of South Asian Think Tanks (COSATT) in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).

Experts from all over the region have contributed papers on all the 17 SDGs and how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted these targets.

Amb. Gyan Chandra Acharya, former Under Secretary General of the UN, and Stephane Maicon, Deputy Head of Mission, Delegation of the EU in Nepal. Amb jointly inaugurated the book.

Aacharya said that the book has compiled papers on all the SDGs and offers well-illustrated regional perspectives. He added that the book would be useful for all the South Asian governments, SAARC, and the United Nations.

Stephane Maicon, Deputy Head of Mission of Delegation of the EU in Nepal said that the EU is always ready to collaborate for the development of SAARC countries and also to help meet the SDGs in the region. He maintained that the targeted SDGs should be achieved by overcoming such pandemics through mutual cooperation.

Director of the Center for South Asian Studies and the convener of COSATT, Nishchal Nath Pandey said that there needs to be a collective approach to overcome the challenges imposed by the pandemic and SAARC as a regional platform should play an active role and develop mechanisms to tackle the pandemic in South Asia.

Christian Echle, Director of the Political Dialogue Asia Programme of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Singapore said that this book would be essential for all as it contains papers on the impact of the Covid pandemic on each of the Sustainable Development targets and its implication for South Asia.

He further added that even in the midst of COVID-19, which has been an obstacle to the smooth advancement of the 17 SDGs of the United Nations, it is crucial to accomplish all the goals such as poverty, education, hunger, health, energy, and cooperation.

Paper presenters from South Asia gathered physically and virtually for the hybrid event to discuss the SDGs.

Professor Mohan Lohani, Mahesh Bhatta, Ujjwal Upadhyay, Kabi Adhikari, Apeksha Shah, Shreya Khakurel, and Diksha Singh from Nepal spoke about the study.

Similarly, participants from India, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh also presented country perspectives on the SDGs.