Wednesday, 29 September 2010
The Council of Social Democrats of Sri Lanka in association with The Network of Social Democracy in Asia (SOCDEM Asia) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) is jointly organizing the 1st South Asian Social Democracy conference under the title “The role of market & State in poverty reduction and improving the efficiency of distributive justice”. The conference will bring together social democratic parties and activists of South Asia.
In the aftermath of the recent global economic depression, the core principles of social democracy have come to the fore of the global socio-political and economic discourse and political practice. This highlights the direct relevance of social democracy to global and South Asian reality. The effects of the global economic slow-down do certainly not spare South Asia. Nations of this region seeking solutions – in some way or the other – are having social democratic principles in their minds.
It is besides this background of reality that the organizers consider it is timely and necessary to subject to debate and discussion the emerging situation with specific reference to the region’s endemic problem of poverty and distributive justice. The conference primarily seeks to interact with local knowledge on the subject and understand the South Asian economic and social challenges in order to generate regional understanding and cooperation.