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The Independent South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation has set a tar-get to halve the poverty level by 2010 against the glob-al target of 2015 in a bid to create pressure on the South Asian countries to accelerate the pace of the anti-poverty campaign. This was disclosed at a seminar on the report of the Commission in the city on Friday organised by the South Asia Centre for Policy Studies (SACEPS), in association with Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD). The seminar was told that SAARC member countries in their summit in Islamabad last month accepted the report of the commission. A fund is being mobilised by the South Asian regional grouping to implement the poverty alleviation programmes through a joint effort under the umbrella of the SAARC. Former foreign secretary of India Professor Muchkund Dubey presided over the session, Participated by economists and officials from SAARC countries including Bangladesh. Speaking at the seminar CPD chief Prof Rehman Sobhan identified synchronisation of regional and nation-al agenda as an "inherent problem" of regional initiatives to fight poverty. Criticising donor-driven development approaches, he said: "They have been suggesting things like divestment and subsidy withdrawal, but these cannot help reduce poverty." Referring to Indian experiences of development, Muchkund Dubey said the foreign-aided NGOs approach often contradicted the mainstream poverty policy of the local government bodies like Panchayet in India. He endorsed the Commission's emphasis on "policy instead of individual initiatives" and said South Asia has huge resources, which are needed to be mobilised to fight poverty. Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, who was a member of the Commission, said Bangladesh would pursue a policy to alleviate poverty focusing on four main issues - good governance, pro-poor initiatives, gender sensitivity and sustainable development. The policy would be followed in line with the SAARC initiative for poverty alleviation in the region, he said. Siddiqui said the government is preparing the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), a long-term and comprehensive plan, taking into consideration the recommendations of the independent Commission. Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman who was also a member of the independent Commission, said the SAARC countries should share their experiences in different fields, where they have made phenomenon successes, to help each other. "Bangladesh can share the Indian experience in the development of information technology while India can share Bangladesh's experience in the field of microcredit programme," he said. Dr M Akas said Sri Lanka has made tremendous successes in the fields of education and health and its experience could help other SAARC countries. Khawar Mumtaz of Citizen's Social Charter Preparation Task Force, Pakistan said health sector is more important than education in case of poverty alleviation. President of Women Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh Nasreen Awal Mintoo said the issue of development of women entrepreneurship should be incorporated in the poverty alleviation strategy. She also said unless the law and order is improved, it would not be easy to reduce poverty in the country.