Workers Related text of the Kathmandu  Declaration

10. (Poverty Alleviation): The leaders reiterated their strong commitment to free South Asia from poverty and directed the Ministerial and Secretary-level mechanisms on poverty alleviation to review the progress and revisit the SAARC Plan of Action and its effective implementation, also taking into account the Post-2015Development Agenda.

12. (Post-2015 Development Goals): The leaders recognised that the Post-2015 Development Agenda, following its adoption at the UN, would present opportunities to compliment national and regional efforts on sustainable development. They directed to initiate an Inter-Governmental process to appropriately contextualize the Sustainable Development Goals at the regional level.

14. (Environment): They directed the relevant bodies/mechanisms for effective implementation of SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters, SAARC Convention on Cooperation on Environment and Thimphu Statement on Climate Change, including taking into account the existential threats posed by climate change to some SAARC Member States. They welcomed the decision to establish the SAARC Environment and Disaster Management Centre. The leaders underlined the urgency for the global community to arrive at a Protocol, another legal instrument, or an agreed outcome with legal force applicable to all by the end of 2015, based on the principles of Common but Differentiated Responsibility, Respective Capabilities and Equity under the UNFCCC.

16. (Health): The leaders recognised the importance of achieving universal health coverage, improving health regulatory systems, preparedness for emerging and re-emerging diseases, and the challenges posed by anti-microbial resistance and non-communicable diseases. They endorsed the Male Resolution on Regional Health Issues adopted at the Fourth Meeting of the SAARC Health Ministers. They urged to continue the remarkable progress by SAARC countries in the last decade in response to AIDS with the aim to end AIDS epidemic in the region by 2030. They also directed to complete all necessary processes for upgrading the SAARC TB Reference Laboratory at SAARC TB and HIV/AIDS Centre, Kathmandu to Supra-national Reference Laboratory with necessary funding from SDF.

17 (Education): The Heads of State or Government expressed their resolve to eliminating illiteracy from the region in line with the global goal of education for all and ensuring quality education in all institutions by reforming curricula, teaching methods and evaluation systems adequately supported by physical, technical and other facilities. The leaders agreed to promote regional cooperation in the field of vocational education and training. They directed their Education Ministers to develop a Regional Strategy for Enhancing the Quality of Education in order to raise the standards of South Asian educational institutions in order to better serve the youth in the region. The Leaders welcomed the progress with regard to the South Asian University.

18. (Youth): They emphasised the need for adopting appropriate national policies and programmes for utilising the youth force and their skills for economic and social development, especially through the creation of productive self-employment opportunities. The leaders welcomed the declaration of July 15 as the World Youth Skills Day at the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly and agreed to commemorate, as appropriate, the said event by SAARC.

19. (Women and Children): They directed the relevant authorities to take effective measures for preventing the trafficking in women and children and their exploitation.

20. (Social Protection): The leaders acknowledged the special needs of the elderly, women, children, differently-abled persons, unemployed persons, and persons working at hazardous sites and agreed to develop and strengthen social protection for them and to share best practices in this regard.

21. (Migration ): They also agreed to collaborate and cooperate on safe, orderly and responsible management of labour migration from South Asia to ensure safety, security and wellbeing of their migrant workers in the destination countries outside the region.