Dhaka, Bangladesh — Partners in Population and Development (PPD) has successfully organized an Inter-Ministerial Conference on “Evidence for Action: South-South Collaboration for ICPD Beyond 2014” from 10-11 November 2012. International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) has some Program of Action (PoA) which have been implemented through South-South Cooperation but still some evidence based information was commonly missing which has been acknowledged. That is why the conference was arranged this time on this topic to improve the understanding of the inter-linkages between population reproductive health and development on which national and international agencies and government can respond to appropriate plans and motivate political will for actions.
The two daylong Conference was attended by more than 150 participants from different countries. With nine sessions in different issues in population, reproductive health, development and women empowerment, the conference was held at Dhaka, Bangladesh. Resource persons from different countries, development organization’s representatives and country representatives made presentations and came up with the Dhaka declaration which includes Universal Access to reproductive health and Family Planning, South –South Cooperation to move forward the London Family Planning Summit Commitments, Rights Based programming for adolescents and other Vulnerable group, Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health, South –South Partnership for HIV/AIDS response, Advocacy for frame work convention on Global Health, Gender Equity, Equality and Women Empowerment for sustainable empowerment etc.
The opening ceremony was chaired by H.E. Prof. A. F. M. Ruhal Haque, MP, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh along with H.E. Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India and Chair of PPD Board, H.E. Mr. Chen Li, Honorable Vice Minister, National Population and Family Planning Commission, Government of People’s Republic of China, H.E. Mrs. Isatou Njie-Saidy, Member, PPD Board and Honorable Vice President and Secretary, State for Women’s Affairs, Government of the Gambia. Chief guest of the opening ceremony was Mr. Abul Maal Muhit, Honorable Finance Minister , Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The closing ceremony was chaired by H.E. Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of India and Chair of PPD Board, along with H.E. Mr. Chen Li, Honorable vice Minister, National Population and Family Planning Commission, Government of People’s Republic of China, H.E. Prof. A. F. M. Ruhal Haque, MP, Honorable Minister, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and Dr. Joe Thomas, Executive Director, Partners in Population and Development.