India, according to a media report, followed by Bangladesh and Iran pulled out of an important conference on sustainable development to be held in Pakistan. The Governing Council of the Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT,) which will be held for three days has started in Islamabad on Monday. The important goal of this conference is to promote sustainable development and strategies of APCTT. The Ministry of Science and Technology is hosting the meeting of the 12th Governing Council of APCTT.
Indian officials first confirmed New Delhi’s participation in the conference but later decided to boycott. A senior official in regard to this said, “Just hours before the meeting was due to start, the Indian delegation cancelled their trip saying that their head delegate had contracted food poisoning.”
In November India has boycotted the SAARC conference that was held in Islamabad. It is believed that these boycotts came as part of isolating Pakistan internationally by staying away from such multinational conferences that will be held in Islamabad. The Centre has said it was not to be made into an issue as the Indian delegation had scheduling problems.
All fourteen members of APCTT were invited, but India, Bangladesh, and Iran have decided not to attend the meeting. The APCTT council meets once a year and discusses the future and working with the center of APCTT located in New Delhi under United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, (ESCAP.) The fourteen member countries of APCTT are Fiji, Chin, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Samoa, Bangladesh, and Iran. Now 11 countries excluding India, Bangladesh and Iran will attend this meet. They will approve the five projects to be undertaken in 2017, in which India submitted ‘Feed the Future India’. This project is aimed at food security in few select least developed countries by introducing agricultural innovation accelerator platform in India. USAID is providing a whopping $1.5 million for this project.
While many believe that this is a move to boycott Pakistan, the Indian Government asked to not read much into the pull out from APCTT.
