Hyderabad: 24th meeting of CIRDAP held in Telangana

The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (NIRDPR) on Wednesday inaugurated the 24th meeting of Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) here. The symposium 'Climate Change Mitigation in CIRDAP member countries' was also organized by the NIRDPR where delegates from 15 countries participated in the event.

W R Reddy IAS, India's Director General of NIRDPR, told ANI, "A meeting is conducted every year and an issue of great importance will be discussed every time. This year, we have decided to discuss climate change and the ideas exchanged in the meet will help other countries to progress in an effective way," he added. Tevita G. Boseiwaqa, Bangladesh's Director General of CIRDAP, said, "India is a founding member of CIRDAP and has been a major puller in ensuring CIRDAPs relevance and visibility amongst its member countries. Till date, India has paid the highest membership contribution which is about USD 95,000."

"The government of India is sponsoring four fully funded international training programmes every year which are coordinated by CIRDAP and NIRD and PR," he added. He said, "India has also funded for the establishment of Centre on Geospatial Applications in Rural Development (CCGARD) at CIRDAP headquarters in Dhaka."

Further, he said that "India has become the first country to establish CIRDAP National Sub - Centre here in, Hyderabad." CIRDAP is a 15 member countries' intergovernmental organization which is administered by a technical committee along with an executive committee and a governing council.