ISLAMABAD, Sept 26: The secretary-general of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), Q. A. Rahim, will arrive here on Friday to attend a meeting of the Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation, officials said here on Thursday.

The four-day regional meeting started here on Thursday presided over by Napalese representative.

The meeting has been convened to discuss and devise strategies for poverty reduction, which was also the theme of the 11th Saarc summit held in Kathmandu in January. Each Saarc member state has nominated two experts for the meeting.

In the declaration adopted at the conclusion of the 11th Saarc summit, the member states expressed their resolve to address the issue of poverty on urgent basis. Heads of state and government pledged to undertake effective and sustained poverty alleviation programmes.