ISLAMABAD, Jan 4: Saarc countries on Sunday signed a social charter to reaffirm the principle goal of the seven-nation association to promote welfare of the people of South Asia in all fields.

The charter aims to improve quality of life, accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development and to provide all individuals an opportunity to live with dignity and realize their full potential.

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali signed the charter on behalf of Pakistan while Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Lyonpo Jigme Yaeser Thinley of Bhutan, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of India, President Maummon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives, Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa of Nepal and Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga signed on behalf of their respective countries.

To achieve its goals, the charter urges all the Saarc member states to attach high importance to social development and economic growth. It also stresses that legislative, executive and administrative frameworks should be provided for the progressive realization of social and economic goals.

The charter asks the Saarc states to maintain a social policy and strategy to ensure an overall and a balanced social uplift of their people.

The states agree that the obligations under the social charter shall be respected, protected, and fulfilled without any reservations and that the enforcement thereof at the national level shall be continuously reviewed through an agreed regional arrangement and mechanism.

Under the charter, the member countries also agreed to establish a people-centred framework for the social development and to build a culture of cooperation and partnership, and to respond to the immediate needs of those who are most affected by human tragedy.

The provisions of the charter shall complement the national processes of policy-making, their implementation and evaluation, while providing broad parameters and principles for addressing common social issues and developing and implementing result-oriented programmes in specific social areas. The implementation of the social charter shall be facilitated by a national coordination committee or any appropriate national mechanism as may be decided in each country.

The charter particularly deals with poverty alleviation, health issues, education, human resource development and youth mobilization, promotion of the status of women, promotion of the rights and well-being of the child, population stabilization and drug de-addiction, rehabilitation and reintegration.

The Saarc member states can amend the charter through an agreement between all the parties.-APP